Open Your Eyes
by Sleep Walking Chicken
Summary: All of Kagome's dreams have come true. She's met her Prince Charming and she can live happily ever after. Yet, her happily ever after doesn't seem to be coming fast enough, and everything seems to be going downhill.
1. Prologue

**Open Your Eyes  
Prologue **

---

Once upon a time there was a beautiful girl. She lived with her father in a large manor on the southern part of town. She was in no way noble or royalty, but she knew of grandeur and her father made sure that she was always well cared for and loved. She was happy with her father and only found sadness in knowing that her mother was no longer with her. Her mother passed away when the young girl was a mere seven years old and her grave still resides in the back yard of the beautifully built manor.

Many years later, after the young child grew into a beautiful young woman, her father remarried. At first, it seemed like their lives were complete. The young woman was happy that her father found love again and her new family did not seem too terrible, either. They would all smile and laugh.

Until the day her father died.

After that, things seemed to take a turn for the worst. A shadow befell the young daughter's life and suddenly her life of leisure and prosperity evaporated like a rain puddle in July. Her hand woven clothes melted away, replaced with dirty, stained hand-me-downs. Her mornings of waking up in a soft bed disappeared, only to be replaced by earning mornings awakening to make breakfast and clean the house.

Her step-sisters were cruel. They laughed at the pain they saw in her eyes. Despite the sick reality that her father was dead and gone forever, the young daughter did not take her bitterness out on her family. In fact, she soon found that a life of luxury was far more overrated than she'd ever expected. Truthfully, she preferred the carefree feeling of knowing that she owned nothing and was indebted to no one but herself.

She worked hard for her remaining relatives. She did the dishes. She cooked the meals. She scrubbed the floors. She mended the clothes. She slept in the broom cupboard for her own room had been converted to a music room for the two other daughters by the cruel stepmother.

Her stepsisters tried to drag her down. They called her names. Humiliating names. They insulted her deceased family. Usually such taunts were met with a swift punch to the nose, for the young daughter learned long ago that she would never roll over and take the abuse from her family, no matter how it was served and the punishment she would ultimately receive. They called her 'Cinders' and taunted the ash that dusted her face. They called her 'slave girl' in hopes of ripping her down.

But she simply became stronger.

Perhaps her stepmother found it incredibly frustrating to see that the girl could not be trodden upon and there was always a smile on her face. Perhaps the stepmother suspected that her stepdaughter-turned-servant was plotting something sinister. But, whatever the reason, as the years passed by, the stepmother grew crueler and crueler towards her stepdaughter.

On the dawn of the daughter's seventeenth birthday, the girl awoke with a smile on her face. In truth, she did not mind the useless chores her stepmother made her do. It passed the time in an otherwise boring day. She liked to think of herself as self reliant; she didn't need anyone. If not for her lack of money, the girl would have disappeared years ago.

Incidentally, it was on the girl's seventeenth birthday that the girl discovered that the prince of the country was the age of marriage. To celebrate such a momentous occasion, the entire capital city—and cities miles around—were invited to attend the prestigious castle for a ball. Princesses from realms never heard of would come from far and wide in hopes of capturing the prince's heart. While it was forbidden for a royal to marry a commoner, the girls of the city were atwitter with happiness to think that, by some far away chance, perhaps they could capture the prince's heart and ensnare a place in the royal castle as a princess—and then queen.

The young servant girl humored the idea but dismissed it as impossibility. After all, it was forbidden for any person of royal blood to wed to a mere city girl with no nobility to her name what so ever. Yet, it did not stop the girl from dreaming. Dreaming of a place where she could belong. A place she could call home.

Her home was no longer her own. Despite the fact that she did not mind the chores her stepfamily forced of her, she did pray for a day when she could escape from the pathetic, boring life she lived and move on to something more adventurous. The greatest part of her life was when she could go to the market and buy food for her pompous family. Yet the market was a mere mile from her doorstep. Hardly something she could call an adventure.

Needless to say, the girl was quite excited for the ball. Unlike the other girls of the capital, she had no desire to win the prince's heart. In fact, she could care less about whether or not she even saw the prince. Just the idea of leaving the house and doing something exciting made her feel lightheaded and deliriously happy.

Until her stepfamily refused her attendance.

She slaved over her dress. Truly it was no match for the nobles that would attend the ball, nor could it truly stand up against the finery her stepsisters draped themselves in, but she still found pride in knowing she'd made the dress from her old rags and somehow made it look halfway decent.

But her stepmother merely scoffed at the girl and smashed the hope in her eyes beneath her foot. Declaring that there was no way that the girl could ever possibly go to the ball, her stepfamily marched out, leaving the girl with a ripped dress and a broken dream.

But, despite what her stepmother would have liked, the young woman was no little girl. She did not roll over and accept defeat. In fact, her stepmother's cruel display only sparked the girl into retaliation. She would attend that ball, if not to spite the woman and to ease her restless heart.

She picked up the hem of her ripped dress and marched out the house, not caring if she appeared in the royal court looking like a slave girl. She would attend, and her manners could be damned for the amount of attention she paid her appearance.

It was after that that all the girl's dreams came true.

At the ball, the most beautiful woman entered the front gates and entered without announcement. In her finery, men fell to their knees and begged for her attentions. With her smile, girls of all ages felt as if an angel were smiling at them.

Her soft blue dress flowed around her body like the softest flowing river. The soft material sparkled as if each star in the sky were captured in the soft folds of the dress. Her eyes sparkled and her beautiful black hair framed her face, drawing attention to the softness of her feminine angles.

It was on that night that the mysterious woman first laid eyes on the prince. Perhaps it was love at first sight, for the man could never again rip his gaze from her. He walked slowly towards her and the rest of the night, they say, is magic.

After midnight, with the solitude destroyed by a sobbing promise of reuniting, a glass slipper stayed precariously on the descent of stairs. In the distance, the prince could capture a glance of a beautiful girl and he feared that he would never see her again.

Everyone knows the story of Cinderella.

She found love. She found freedom. She found that dreams do come true.

Her life should be perfect. She has everything that she could ever want. She can live happily ever after with her prince. No longer can she be stamped beneath the boot of oppression.

But is she happy?


	2. Chapter One

**Open Your Eyes  
Chapter One**

---

She wasn't happy about the situation, not in the least. Huffing to herself she turned angrily away from the notice that plagued the entire town and faced her two daughters.

"I don't understand how she even made it to the ball," her youngest protested sadly, looking quite put-upon. She'd been saying the same thing for the past month now and still no answer could present itself.

"And how did she make herself look so beautiful!" her eldest sniffed, looking increasingly frigid and prudish with every passing day. She turned her nose upwards and scowled cruelly at the sky, as if it had done her personal harm.

"It is truly a crime," the mother agreed, glaring at the notice announcing the engagement with the eldest Charming son and her ungrateful stepdaughter. "And it is truly a crime that, despite the girl's new engagement, she can't offer us better accommodations."

"Kagome is so cruel!" the youngest cried out, clenching her eyes shut. "After keeping her in our home for so long. Now she won't even look at us as she passes by in a carriage."

"She's just a brat," the eldest sneered, staring at the castle with a look of longing in her eyes. Truly she had dreamed of becoming a princess in much the same manner her stepsister, Kagome, had, and now she was stuck on the other side of the castle gate with her spiteful family.

"Let us go home, my children," the eldest woman said hotly. "Being so close to that trash is making me sick."

They marched away angrily, moving towards the marketplace where they were forced to do their own shopping now that their servant was no longer in their care. The notice hanging on the brick wall lining the road blended into the scene of merriment in the square. For surely everyone was excited for the prince's engagement to a princess of an unknown land.

_Rejoice, citizens, for your prince has found love, _the notice declared in the deep scrawl of an advanced writer. _The beautiful Princess Kagome from the eastern realm will help lead the country to victory and prosperity._

---

It was incredibly strange to walk down the dark hallways of the castle. She knew nothing of the castle, really. She'd wanted to explore and get to know the place she would call home from now on, but no one would let her leave.

Whenever she did go someone, however, she was always followed by an escort, much like she was right now. And being followed by a young boy exclaiming that she was walking too fast for her delicate frame or straying too far from the main walkway while outside was more than frustrating, especially for Kagome, who longed for freedom.

Kagome sighed and continued walking towards her bedroom at the end of the hall. She'd been in the castle for a month and nothing had happened. One glorious month away from home; one glorious month since the ball.

Her cheeks turned pink in remembrance of the magical night. The night she'd met her Prince Charming. There was nothing she wanted more than to marry him, she was sure, and she'd come to the ball only to have adventure! Who knew she'd find true love, and with the prince, of all people! It was truly mind-blowing that she'd been the one chosen out of so many beautiful women. But he'd told her himself that she was the most beautiful girl in the entire world.

Whether that was true or not could not be proven, and truly it was a matter of opinion, but regardless the sentiment was nice and the compliment sent warm chills (if that was at all possible) up her spine and made her cheeks turn pink. She sighed again in remembrance of the magical night, which she did trice daily, at least.

The entire kingdom, as her tutors told her, was rejoicing over the engagement. Though the citizens had no idea that the princess of the eastern realm was, indeed, a maid from the southern border of the city, they still felt happy for the prospect of furthering the monarchy's line.

As Kagome walked she nearly tripped over the trailing skirts of her dress. She wasn't too used to being a princess, something her tutors were frequently pointing out to her. She was, in all cases of the word, quite inept.

She had to admit she liked the way the dress fit to her body, much like that beautiful dress at the ball had, and felt increasingly beautiful every time members of the castle would pause and cast her approving looks.

Unfortunately, her looks were the only Princess-like thing about her. She was, as her tutors also liked to point out, a piece of coal and no where close to being a beautiful diamond.

Kagome came to a stop and sighed.

"Is something wrong, Princess?" the escort asked politely, unsure what made Kagome stop.

"No, no," she reassured as she gazed dully at the large wooden door at the end of the hall. Her room. Her cold, much-too-large room. If it weren't for the love of the prince, Kagome was sure that she'd go absolutely insane with the amount of decadence and expensive royalties in the castle. But that was what castles were, after all. Yet that didn't stop her from hating it with all her being.

_If it weren't for the prince…_ She trailed off, not wishing to think of such things.

She exhaled again, something she'd been doing a lot of lately. Her tutor reminded her that it was incredibly unlady-like and completely and absolutely terrible for a princess to do. But her tutor always said that. Everything Kagome _did_ was unfit for a princess. But what did the woman want from her? She wasn't a princess; she was just some peasant from the southern border of the city.

"We're here, my lady," the escort said with a bow. He spoke to the floor, "I pray that everything will be to your liking, as always." Kagome nodded faintly and the boy opened the doors for her. "Your chamber maid shall arrive shortly to put you to bed, Princess."

With that, still bowing so deeply his hair touched the floor, the escort retreated into the darkness of the castle's hallways. Kagome frowned and entered her bedroom. She found it quite ironic that her bedroom was larger than the entire downstairs parlor of the home she once lived in. But she was sure her stepfamily found no humor in such a situation, for they were not invited to live in the castle.

"This is what I wanted," Kagome told herself as she crossed the expanse of her bedroom to the window. She sat at the ledge and stared out over the gardens far below. Beyond the garden gates and the high wall of her new home, Kagome could see the twinkling lights in windows of the capital city. Farer still, Kagome thought that she could almost make out the manor where her mother and father were buried. She sighed again, her head resting against the wall as she stared at the twinkling windows and sparkling stars.

At least no one called her 'Cinders' or 'Slave Girl' here. But she didn't much care for 'Princess' and 'My Lady', either. She wished someone would just call her Kagome. That was her name after all, and it didn't need some fancy title attached to it. She didn't need to be called a princess, for she was not royalty yet, nor did she have to be called a lady for she was still but a child. She hadn't yet reached eighteen summers.

"My lady?" Speak of the devil. She hated her titles.

She turned around to face her chamber maid, an elder lady Kagome was surprised hadn't fallen over dead yet. Kagome smiled at her but the woman did not return it, instead she bowed down deeply, clutching the princess' sleeping robes.

"Are you ready to sleep, Your Highness?" she questioned.

Kagome sighed and nodded, then realized that her chambermaid could not see such a movement with her nose touching the ground. "Yes, that would be lovely."

She went through the routine she'd grown used to for the past month. To think she'd left home to find adventure, but she'd simply found dullness at a much grander scale. She found it incomprehensible that the prince could find this livable.

"Sleep well, My Lady," the woman said gently as she bowed from the room, holding the large wooden doors between her liver-spotted, pruned fingertips. "May your dreams be pleasant and wonderful."

"Good night," Kagome called, but the woman had already slammed the doors shut, shedding her in total darkness. She stared at the ceiling through the slim gauze of her canopy. "Good night, Mother. Father."

The moon beamed through her windows, leaving shadows on her walls.

Blue eyes half-lidded, Kagome thought about her life and her reason for being here. She thought warmly of Prince Charming. Soon, they'd be married and she'd be Princess Kagome Charming. She hummed in happiness, feeling her cheeks turn pink. Tomorrow, she'd be able to see her husband-to-be, and that thought alone made her feel too warm.

In the distance she heard a curse. It was a shock that she heard it and the young princess sat up, staring curiously at her open window, where the cool night breeze filtered in. Throwing away the sheets and blankets her chamber maid worked so hard to fold to perfection around her body, Kagome hopped out of bed and padded lightly to the window.

She brushed aside the sheer curtains that did little but accent the room's colors and poked her head outside the stone-lined window. She looked out over the dark grounds of her bedroom and saw nothing.

Then she heard another curse and the soft whinny of a horse. Kagome's head swiveled around towards where she knew the stables presided. She blinked her unfocused blue eyes and tried to concentrate on the figure trying to pull horses into the stables.

Her eyes drifted upwards from the stables towards the soft glow of the night. Beyond the castle's protective walls Kagome could see the tiny lights in windows from the capital city. The houses lined the horizon and twinkled like the stars in the sky.

Sitting at her window sill, Kagome felt completely and utterly at peace and she was reminded, once again, why she was here and how lucky she was to be here.

_I have everything I could possibly want. Everything is perfect. This is what I've always wanted. This is what my Fairy Godmother wanted me to have when she granted my wishes. This is my dream and it has come true._

She continued to repeat such a thought dreamily as her eyes drifted shut. She fluttered them open, trying to stay awake so she could memorize the beautiful scenery before her. The moon beamed down and the stars twinkled like the candles in the windows far beyond her.

The silence of the night was shattered by the moderate calls of horses and the curses of the stable boy. She bathed in the tranquility of it all with the subtle reminder of humanity (demonstrated by the profanities.)

_This is what I want._

---

"You stupid, blasted girl!" a voice screeched and for one brief, horrifying second Kagome was positive that she was back in her old home with her stepmother standing over her angrily. But, no, she was in the castle and her main tutor was standing over her, hands on her hips and looking incredibly angry. "What are you doing?"

"I was sleeping," Kagome muttered.

The tutor slapped her arm with her cane and Kagome hissed in pain. "Princesses do not mutter, nor do they talk back to their superiors. Now then, what are you doing?"

"Forgive me, madam," Kagome said through gritted teeth.

The tutor hit her again with her cane and Kagome resisted the urge to retaliate and punch the woman bluntly in the face, as she often did with her stepsisters when they were cruel to her. Instead, she sat up a bit straighter and tried to look as innocent and helpless as possible, as her tutor told her princesses should look.

"What were you doing out of bed? You know that a princess must only leave her bed once her chamber maid or tutor arrives to help her," the batty old woman said fiercely and Kagome kept her head bowed so she wouldn't see her enraged features.

"I could not sleep, madam," Kagome confessed. She'd been captivated by the view outside her window and the desire to explore that world.

The woman snorted. "How petty."

"I beg forgiveness," Kagome lied, feeling her anger surging through her. There were so many drawbacks to the entire princess thing, but she had to remind herself that she did it all for her prince and her love. She loved him. That was all that mattered. Things would get better once they got married.

"Just don't do it again," the woman snapped. "If you cannot sleep, stay in your bed. Never leave your bed."

Kagome felt that this, like many of the other rules bestowed upon her, were absolutely ridiculous, but she did not voice this opinion. Her arms were already bruised enough from the amount of times her tutors had slapped her with various objects. It was crude, yes, but it got the point across, no matter how unwilling Kagome may be.

She progressed throughout the day in a lazy, tired state. Nothing she did occupied her mind for very long and she found herself drifting along in a mundane daze. This was what her life was shaping up to be: a boring mess.

Her only solace was the idea of seeing her prince. Just thinking of him sent delicious shivers up her spine and a warmth to envelope her. It was true she hadn't gone to the ball to find him and find love, but love had found her, truly. She didn't know him very well, for they'd only seen each other a grand total of four times.

The first time was at the ball, of course. The second when he'd sought her out in order to marry her; that had been so incredibly romantic. The last two times had been in the castle over the course of the month she'd been there. She was rarely allowed to see the prince, and when she did, she was heavily chaperoned.

But those times had been so magical. He'd always smiled at her and told her how beautiful she was and how lucky they were to have found one another. Kagome couldn't agree more readily.

Never in a million years would Kagome have thought she'd be so lucky as to have the love of the prince on her shoulders. But she was overjoyed. This was what she'd always wanted, and she hadn't even realized it until that very moment he'd presented the glass slipper to her.

"Good morning, Princess," Prince Naraku greeted her after breakfast and her morning classes. Kagome smiled at her future brother, and gave him a small bow which he returned languidly. "You seem cheerful. Looking forward to seeing my elder brother?"

"Yes," Kagome admitted, feeling her cheeks turn pink at the thought of seeing her prince.

Naraku Charming was charming, as far as she could tell, and he was always so very kind to her. And, unlike her future husband, she was allowed to visit Naraku without a massive amount of chaperoning—for everyone in the kingdom knew that neither needed to be watched readily, for they were not engaged nor in love.

"You haven't seen him for a long while, you must be excited," Naraku agreed with a nod and tilted his head towards the garden outside the door. "Do you care to join me for a walk?"

"I'd be honored," Kagome said, though she did not much care for the idea. But who was she to deny a royal man his walk? Besides, it was the number one rule in the How to be a Princess Rules; you must always agree with the man, for he was right, and she, a woman, was wrong. She took Prince Naraku's proffered hand and he guided her to the sunlight gardens.

The entire world burst into life and the sun beat on her paled skin as she smelled the warm scent of roses. She smiled despite herself and heard Naraku chuckle. The last time Kagome could truly enjoy roses, it was after she herself had planted them. The manor on the Southern city border smelled of roses thanks to her efforts.

"They're beautiful," Kagome hummed.

"Indeed," Naraku said, watching her and scenting the roses when instructed to by Kagome.

They walked in silence for the longest time and Kagome felt dimmed and unimpressed with anything. Though she hated the days she'd spent with her stepfamily, she almost found herself craving the freedom she once held in the house, albeit a restricted freedom. If that made sense. At least in her old home she could move around as she pleased, provided that her chores were completed.

Here she was watched like a hawk and it was an effort to go to the bathroom unattended. She rarely saw the man she was supposed to marry and instead spent her days learning proper princess etiquette.

"You're sighing a lot," Naraku remarked simply.

Kagome stiffened. She'd broken another rule. "I apologize. I did not sleep well." A lie, but how was Naraku to know? "I must admit that my days here have been a bit dull."

"You speak so freely," Naraku said with barely masked mirth.

Kagome felt her cheeks turn pink. She'd broken another rule. "I apologize." She bowed. "I pray I have no offended you."

"No," he agreed, "I care very little whether or not you are enjoying yourself here. It hardly matters."

Kagome nodded mutely, feeling a tiny tingle of rage in her belly. She wished she could express herself better, but she was forced to remain silent.

For what felt like the millionth time, Kagome whispered silently to herself, _This is what I wanted._

---

"You look beautiful," Prince Hojo said softly as he sat across the table from Kagome.

Kagome smiled benignly and ducked her head bashfully, feeling her face burst into flames. She stifled a girlish giggle and nodded her head. "You flatter me," she murmured, trying to ignore the five chaperones surrounding their table and watching their every move to make sure nothing disgraceful happened between the couple. "You look handsome, too, as always."

She watched Hojo sit up a bit straighter and felt more girlish glee. She lifted her head and gave him a tiny smile. He returned it and took a sip of the wine sitting before him. They ate their meal together silently and Kagome sighed wistfully, wishing that a more significant and romantic scene would play out, like it had at the ball.

Hojo had been so incredibly romantic then. They'd danced for hours, talking to one another and laughing, like they were a couple in everyday circumstances, not in the royal castle. He'd danced and they'd talked. Then, before the clock struck midnight, he'd leaned over and gently given her the very first kiss she'd ever received.

Her lips tingled at the remarkable memory. But now, with her fifth time seeing her husband-to-be, they were forced to endure idle chit-chat and awkward silences. If the blasted chaperones weren't in the room, it would be so much better. Kagome was furious at the mere thought.

"How have your lessons been?" Hojo asked delicately.

Kagome blushed. Truth be told, she'd been doing horribly, as her tutors never hesitated to point out. "Very well," she lied instead, "I have learned so much. I feel that everyday I am growing more and more worthy to be your wife."

Hojo cracked a distant smile. "Indeed?"

"Yes," Kagome said and sat up a bit straighter. "And you? You have been receiving lessons for quite some time, yes? How have they been, Your Highness?"

She hated having to call him by title. It was so frustrating to talk to the one she loved as if he were a mere stranger—and they weren't strangers, either—without being able to gaze at him lovingly or kiss his lips. Her shoulders stiffened.

"I have learned much," Prince Hojo agreed and took another sip of his wine. "Father believes that soon I will be ready to take the throne. His time draws near, of course, and the better prepared I am the better the kingdom will be in the long run."

"When His Majesty does pass—God forbid anytime soon—I am confident that you will be a marvelous leader," Kagome said, and meant it. She beamed proudly at Hojo, knowing that he was fully capable of a glorious and long ruling.

"It pleases me to hear you say that, My Lady," Hojo said quietly.

Kagome frowned at her food, feeling as if her cheeks would explode. This was hardly the meeting with her future husband. Kagome had dreamed of for the past weeks. She'd envisioned something a bit more exciting and wonderful. But, alas, she was stuck in his bedchamber with stupid escorts and bound by the Princess Law.

"You may call me Kagome, Your Highness," Kagome ventured, lifting her head defiantly and gauging the chaperone's reactions. They looked incredibly displeased with Kagome's proposal.

Hojo regarded her for the longest moment over the rim of his goblet. Kagome swallowed thickly, feeling as if she would die on the spot with all the pairs of eyes on her. Even the paintings were staring at her, it seemed. She shifted nervously in her seat and tried to sit up straight, as her sitting instructor kept trying to teach her. It wasn't her fault she was used to slouching over an unwashed floor and her spine was bent in the tiniest of humps.

Finally, Hojo set down his goblet and folded his hands in front of him. "It saddens me to say this, but our time has come to an end. We both have lessons we must get to. It has been wonderful to see you again, My Lady, but we must part ways for now."

He stood up and Kagome stood up at once, her chair scrapping loudly across the stone floor. The chaperones shot her disapproving glares but Kagome ignored them as she gazed solely at the prince. She curtsied awkwardly and the prince returned with the tiniest of bows.

He strolled over to her and took her hand, planting the tiniest of kisses upon her knuckles. Kagome felt her face turn pink again.

"Until we meet again, My Lady," Hojo said softly and with a gently sweep of his cape, he was gone from the room, with three chaperones at his heels.

_He didn't want to call me Kagome in front of the old men,_ Kagome told herself as the remaining chaperones led her back to her room, where her afternoon lessons would commence. _Once we're married and there are no longer any chaperones, he'll be far more open than he is now. Yes._

With a renewed sense of hope, Kagome entered her bedchamber, where her dancing tutor stood impatiently.

---

Kagome watched him silently from her window, unsure what to make of the silhouette in the distance. From her seat at the window Kagome could see the majority of the capital city and the stretching, rolling farmlands spreading out from the city. She rested her head in her hand and sighed wistfully.

From her window she could see the stables and the stable boy. She couldn't see him well, but she could make out his outline as he led each horse into the stables for the night, their tails swishing back and forth. He was tall and had long black hair falling down his back.

"At least he gets to do something," she muttered lightly and furrowed her brow in frustration, wishing that she could ride the horses. "Even if he has to sit around with horses all day."

The idea seemed far more appealing than sitting through another lesson with her tutors. Her eating etiquette teacher was atrocious. Her sitting and walking etiquette teacher was unbearable. Her dancing etiquette teacher smelled disgusting. Her speaking etiquette teacher always appeared to have swallowed a whole lemon and talked like it, too. Her main tutor, who covered everything else, was almost as vile and terrible as her stepmother. It was unbearable having to bend over backwards for them. She was about ready to break.

The only teacher she could stand was the only teacher she actually considered an educator. Miroku, her only male tutor, taught her the necessities of reading, writing, arithmetic, and history. Though slightly winded at times, Miroku was a good teacher and she enjoyed his company above all else. He never reprimanded her for messing up and was incredibly patient with her. Her only complaint was his wandering eyes.

She wished she could go outside once in a while, though.

_But just think of the reward. Prince Hojo will surely prefer a proper princess over a scullery maid,_ she was forced to remind herself. For truly Hojo, who'd grown up in such splendor, would want her to be presented her best. She knew that they loved each other and love is blind, but that didn't mean that she couldn't impress him with her ability to learn. _I'll make him proud to have me as a wife._

She watched the way the stable boy moved idly, wishing she could be down there petting the horses or feeding the horses. She wasn't a big horse person, but she preferred the horses over the tutors any day!

She sighed again. She had to stop doing that or her tutors would grow more and more agitated. But she could not help it. She was so incredibly bored and restricted here. She pictured Hojo in her mind's eye and felt her stomach flop, as she knew it would, and she remembered the reason she was here. With renewed strength, she decided silently to work harder the next day.

"You're lucky," she told the stable boy who stood so far away, so far that the darkening sky nearly shadowed him. "You can do whatever you want whenever you want. No one cares about you and no one wants you to be something you're not."

She furrowed her brow and huffed, turning away from the window.

"What am I saying?" she asked herself. "I should be thankful for this chance. Out of all the girls at the ball, Prince Hojo chose me and me alone. It was love at first sight, and don't forget it!"

She nodded in determination.

"That's exactly what it is," she said firmly and smiled at the horizon beyond the castle wall.


	3. Chapter Two

**Open Your Eyes  
Chapter Two**

---

"You seem rather distracted, My Lady."

Kagome pulled her attentions away from the window and stared sheepishly at her tutor, Miroku. He smiled benignly and waved a quill towards her, the inky tip nearly dabbing at her nose.

"You should focus more, lest you want to get in trouble with your other tutors," he said warmly. Kagome laughed quietly and ducked her head towards the text she'd been reading. She liked Miroku; he rarely grew angry or agitated with her, and he was an incredibly good teacher.

"Sorry," she said with laughter in her voice. "I mean—I deeply apologize." She bowed her head. "I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

"Heh," Miroku laughed and waved his hand aside before flipping a page in his own text. "Today is a lovely day."

Miroku spoke the truth. The sun was shining brightly and a warm breeze wafted into the stuffy bedchamber. Kagome felt the soft caress of the wind and longed to go outside, where she could properly feel the wind and the soft warmth of the sun high above. But, no, she was stuck in the tower, doing absolutely nothing of importance.

She glanced at her tutor, and saw that Miroku was staring out the window longingly, his eyes towards the forest in the distance. Kagome titled her head and tried to get a better look.

"They say that forest's enchanted," he murmured, his dark blue eyes taking in the long expanse of foliage. Kagome looked at the forest once again. Her home lined that forest, but she'd never heard that it was enchanted. "It's rumored that magical things happen in there."

"Sounds lovely," Kagome said before she could stop herself.

Miroku perked and smiled at her, a small chuckle escaping his lips before Kagome could register that she'd said something amusing.

"Always so outspoken, Highness," he said with laughter in his voice.

Kagome straightened and stared at the book before, taking in its tiny text. Idly flipping a page in the large tome, Kagome shrugged her shoulders—a very un-princess thing—and sighed. "I try my hardest to not be so, but it just always slip out."

"You cannot be tamed," Miroku said in understanding.

Kagome looked at him with a new light in her eyes. She smiled shyly and nodded her head. "I cannot be tamed," she agreed, "and I hate it."

"You hate it?" Miroku repeated, obviously surprised.

"Yes," Kagome said with a frown. "Because if I continue to be so outspoken and untamed, then I won't be able to be a good wife to Prince Hojo, and I want to be the best I can possibly be."

Miroku said nothing for a long moment and Kagome knew that he was collecting his words. He shut his book with a soft thud and lifted his brows towards her.

"You wish to change for His Highness?" Miroku questioned.

Kagome felt foolish under his gaze. "Yes."

"Forgive me, Highness, but I do not agree," Miroku finally ventured.

Kagome sat up a bit straighter against her chair and tried to look as regal as possible. She saw the flash of an amused flicker in Miroku's eyes and knew that she must look utterly foolish in this situation.

"You don't?" she finally croaked out, after collecting herself.

"I don't," he agreed. "This is who are you, if you don't mind me saying, Highness, and trying to change yourself is unfair to yourself. Prince Hojo should love you for who you are. That's why you're here, right?"

Kagome didn't feel inclined to say that they'd fallen in love at a ball after he'd seen how beautiful she was. She had not had a long courtship with Hojo at all. In fact, she barely knew anything about Hojo Charming other than he was the handsome elder prince of the kingdom, and he was very keen on doing a good job as king once he rose to the throne.

"Yes," Kagome said instead. "I suppose you're right."

"But that is neither here nor there," Miroku said with a tiny clap of his hands. The fingers intertwined and he leaned forward. "Our main concern right now is arithmetic, yes?"

"Yes," Kagome sighed.

---

Kagome slunk against the wall, her back pressed firmly against the cold stone behind her. She breathed slowly, calculating her next move, unsure what it was she doing but knowing that she had to do it.

"Princess!" a small voice called down the hall and Kagome burst into action.

Picking up her skirts, Kagome dashed away from her scrambling escort and turned down the long maze of hallways, searching for an escape and a minute of quiet peace. She threw open a door at random and nearly recoiled as the bright sunlight assaulted her. She blinked her blue eyes open and stared with her mouth hanging wide open.

"Princess!" the voice called again and Kagome did not wait another moment to marvel at the sheer beauty of the castle grounds. She practically threw herself down the castle stairs and darted towards the rose gardens. "Princess!"

The chaperone's voice was growing fainter and fainter, and Kagome knew that the boy had not tried looking outside for the lost princess. Smiling at her own cleverness, Kagome darted between towering rose bushes nearly as tall as she and moved towards the backside of the castle, where there would be better places to hide and enjoy her day.

"I'm going to be in so much trouble," she muttered, but at the moment she couldn't have cared less. She was outside! She was outside alone, finally!

Laughing despite herself, Kagome wheeled around to the back of the castle after some effort navigating through the rose bushes and the sheer distance between the front castle grounds and the back castle grounds. She titled her head upwards and could just make out her bedroom window. To think she was just up there half an hour ago learning how to dance properly. Ha.

She didn't know how long she ran, but once she came to a stop she knew that she was at the building she'd been gazing at for the longest time. She couldn't understand why it was she was so attracted to the stables, but she couldn't resist going there.

She hid behind a huge stack of hay and watched the horses prancing out in the fields. She could make out the figure of the stable boy. He was riding a horse and looking over the other ones. She realized blankly that he was coming towards her. She hid deeper into the hay, watching his every move.

Now that she was close, Kagome realized that he was quite handsome. He was young, far younger than she would have guessed sitting up in her stables. He couldn't have been much older than she herself. He was tall and lanky.

He dismounted the horse and, guiding it gently by the reins, approached the stables, next to which Kagome was currently hiding. He moved slowly and stared blankly in front of him, looking positively bored.

_But how can he be bored when he can go out riding every day?_ Kagome marveled silently.

Kagome realized dimly as he approached that he had beautiful golden eyes, framed by his black hair cascading over his shoulders. His left eye was covered by that beautiful ebony mane and he batted the hair aside idly every few seconds.

The princess was completely mesmerized by him.

"There, there," he soothed the horse as they entered into the stable and Kagome lost sight of him. She nestled into the hay and listened earnestly to his voice. It was smooth and masculine, just like she'd imagined it would.

She sighed and stared at the sky through the hay and imagined being able to ride one of the horses. Her tutors would have fits at the mere thought and probably her chaperones would die from the idea of the delicate princess riding on a ferocious beast. She laughed bitterly at the thought.

The stable boy returned from inside the stable and moved towards the corral, where Kagome realized two horses resided, picking at the minimal amounts of food left inside. He moved slowly, calculating each step.

Kagome shifted so she could see better and watched as the boy halted. For a wild moment Kagome thought that he'd heard her, then quickly dismissed the thought; there was no way he could have heard her from the distance between them.

He beckoned the horses with an apple and as the horses approached he swiveled his head and Kagome felt as if his eyes were boring into hers, though Kagome knew there was no way he could see her so deep in the hay. He watched the hay for the longest time before turning back to the horses and patting them as they ate the apples.

"Princess," he spoke to the horses and did not turn to face the girl in the haystack but Kagome started regardless. "I am not one to care whether you hide in the hay or not, but I would say that there are many bugs in there, and they would mar your delicate features."

Kagome wasn't sure whether she should be shocked he knew she was there or insulted by the mere idea that crawling bugs could frighten her. She opted to say nothing and instead sent the stable boy what she hoped was an intense look. He chuckled idly and shook his head, handing one of the horses another apple.

"I can only guess as to why you hide in the stables," he said slowly, as if speaking to the horses and not the runaway princess.

Kagome refused to say anything, for maybe if she refused to acknowledge his words, he would think himself crazy and dismiss the mere idea that there was a royal fiancée in the hay next to his stables.

He must have realized her plan because he chuckled quietly and turned towards the hay. He stalked towards it and Kagome tried to slink deeper into the hay. As she moved, she heard the hay rustle around her but it sounded as if it'd been magnified one thousand times. No doubt he knew she was there now. She tilted her head to the side to try and break away from the stable boy before her eyes locked on the hugest spider she'd ever seen.

"Kyaaa!" she screamed loudly, bursting out of the hay with her arms waving in the air. She must have looked quite comical, but Kagome couldn't have cared less as she attempted to get away from the spider as quickly as possible. She stumbled out of the hay and tried to ignore the mess she'd made. There were large pieces of hay in the stable boy's hair. She must have thrown it at him when trying to escape.

He stared at her in a mixture of shock and amusement. His one visible eye flickered and he brushed his black hair aside, revealing a milky golden eye. Kagome felt ashamed of her outburst over a petty spider, especially after her determination to prove him wrong against her fear of bugs (and she wasn't normally afraid of them, either).

"Princess!" a voice said loudly and both princess and stable boy turned their heads towards the source of the sound. Kagome realized with a sinking realization that two of the castle guards were marching towards her. "Princess, are you hurt?"

Kagome glanced at the stable boy and bowed softly to the guards. "Yes, I got lost while touring the rose gardens, and the stable boy here was kind enough to assist me away. I was quite frightened."

She prayed that she sounded convincing and, still in a small curtsey, she glanced upwards at the stable boy. His face was stoic.

"He helped you? What was he doing away from the stables?" the second guard asked, eyeing the stable boy warily, as if he'd committed a heinous crime for daring to help the princess.

_I hope he's not in trouble,_ Kagome realized after the words left the guard's mouth.

"I'm surprised he made it that far without running into something!" the same guard added, laughing at his own, cruel joke. Kagome stared at him in confusion, her eyes darting between the laughing solider and the stiff stable boy.

"I'm only blind in one eye, I might add," the stable boy said coldly, his eyes narrowing as he glared at the two soldiers, who'd both burst into a fit of chuckles. "And I am fully capable of movement."

"Of course," the first guard laughed and elbowed his partner. They both stifled their giggles and became quite serious in a matter of seconds. Then they elbowed one another and snickered again at the stable boy's expense.

Kagome could see the vein pulsing just beneath his thick black bangs and knew that he was angered with the treatment he received. It was a wonder he'd managed to restrain his anger up to that point. Feeling her own fury boil over, she stood up a bit straighter and tried to look like she was very important, despite the layer of hay covering her hair and dress.

"That is hardly any way to treat the man who saved me," she said, overly dramatic. For she could save herself, especially from rose gardens. But that defeated the purpose of defending the stable boy's honor. "You shouldn't be so cruel."

The stable boy gave her a dark look that suggested that he was not at all pleased with Kagome's determination to stand up for him. His one, non-milky eye flashed in his barely restrained anger and Kagome hoped she hadn't offended him too greatly.

Kagome soon saw the reason why. The two guards looked beside themselves with amusement and Kagome wouldn't have been surprised if they burst into more fits of uncontrollable laughter. Instead, they straightened themselves and looked between the stable boy and the princess. " We are pleased to see you are unhurt, Princess."

She saw their lips wobble and knew they were doing an excellent job at restraining themselves. That did nothing to quell her anger, however.

"Take me to my room," she commanded at once.

They did as ordered and ushered her away. She walked between them, feeling her fury for the two rude men. As she walked, she looked over her shoulder and saw that the stable boy was looking directly at her. She nearly tripped over her skirts, so moved she was by those intense eyes. They stared only at her, and a soft wind rustled his black hair as he stared after her.

It felt like he was boring into her soul and she felt raw and naked under such an intense gaze from him. She didn't know his name. She didn't know a thing about him, but seeing those intense golden eyes made her want to know him.

Armed with the resolve to see more of the stable boy, Kagome allowed herself to be beckoned into the castle, knowing full well she would not be greeted with opened arms and would, instead, face the wrath of her tutors.

---

Kagome was extremely pleased with herself. Incredibly. Undeniably.

Life in the castle was dull. Kagome was quickly discovering this. In fact, she'd probably known the first time she'd set foot in the castle after the ball—which had not been dull in the least—and realized that she would be spending the next two months learning the proper ways of the princess. One month had passed and Kagome sincerely doubted that they'd let her marry Hojo in another month.

Kagome, momentarily forgetting her pride in her incredibleness in favor of recalling the soft visage of her handsome fiancée, paused in her steps and sighed wistfully. Gazing at the ceiling of the library idly she moved slowly, yet deliberately, towards the window. The library was on the bottom floor and, by some miracle, she'd convinced her tutors to let her study in the library.

Congratulating herself on her princessly diplomacy, something she hated to admit she'd learned from her main tutor, she hurried over to the window and brushed the curtains aside. She was facing the tall bushes of the rose garden. She could hide there. Excellent.

Picking up her skirts and revealing enough leg to make her tutor faint in shock, Kagome hiked herself over the ledge and stared down at the short eight feet distance between the window and the ground below her.

She glanced around the library she knew already was perfectly empty. She hesitated, unsure whether she could make such a jump. Swallowing a lump in her throat and nursing the idea of a few blissful hours of freedom before her tutors realized she was not doing independent studying overcame her immediate fear of heights.

"Excellent," she congratulated herself again. "Now all you have to do is jump."

And, with that, she jumped. Then promptly screamed as she realized that she hated jumping just as much as imagining jumping. In fact, it was far, far worse.

She fell to the ground in an unceremonious lump of flesh and flashy dresses. She lay there on the grass separating the castle wall from rose bushes and groaned miserably. That hadn't been one of her smarter moments, and had anyone been watching her in that moment she assumed they'd be laughing for hours long after this incident.

Standing up and ignoring the minor pain in her back, Kagome hobbled away and realized with a surge of pleasure that she was free for a couple blissful hours when everyone who believe her to be in the library!

_Joy! Jubilation! _She skipped around through the rose garden, hardly able to contain her infinite ability to obtain good luck.

She could go as far to say she was frolicking. She ran-skipped away from the rose gardens and moved gracefully—and when she said gracefully she met with the grace of an inconspicuously pink elephant—towards the stables. Maybe she would see and pester the stable boy for a bit.

Her triumph was quickly cut short, however, as her delicately slippered foot caught on the ground beneath her and, with a disturbing similarity to a windmill, Kagome waved her arms around in her attempt to maintain her balance.

She realized dully that she was face-first in the dirt but couldn't find the strength to pick herself back up. She was fairly certain she'd just bruised her knees on top of her ego. She groaned and struggled to push herself up.

Then, before she could stop herself, she started laughing hysterically with her face still planted firmly in the dirt, her lips showing the ground just how much she adored its company. She laughed triumphantly and a bit chaotically, if not because this was the strangest and funniest situation she could ever remember being in.

Still giggling despite herself, Kagome picked herself up and her eyes locked on the stable boy's, who stood a short distance away. It was as if someone had sent a swift kick to her stomach and all the laughter drained out of her. She was quite certain she'd paled considerably and she probably looked like a rather embarrassed ghost in that moment. At least as a ghost she could have sunk into the ground or disappeared.

It was in that moment that Kagome realized how ridiculous she must have looked. She'd been running around like a child, tripped over her dress, and fallen face first in the mud. And now the stable boy was staring at her with that strange look of barely concealed amusement on his face.

She sat up and huffed, tossing her muddy hair defiantly. "I meant to do that."

"I'm sure you did, Princess," the stable boy said calmly. Kagome stared at him. Just the way he said her title sounded like he was mocking her. He didn't say it with high reverie to her, instead, he sounded like he was humoring a small child.

Kagome climbed to her feet and tried to wipe the mud from the front of her cream colored dress. This was just her luck. Now it would become evident that she had snuck out of the castle. She huffed loudly, blowing out a long stream of air from her mouth and ruffling her black bangs. Her best laid plans, oh, how quickly they had gone awry. Bugger.

The stable boy smirked and turned away, guiding the horse towards the stables. Kagome, despite her common sense, followed after him and almost passed out from the stench of horses crowded in one place. The stable boy didn't seem too pleased to see the princess in the stables with him and did not acknowledge her presence.

He brushed the mares and stallions idly, never letting his eyes dart towards her. Kagome sat on a pile of hay, not caring how unlady-like she was sitting, with her back slightly arched forwards and her elbows resting on her knees. She just didn't care.

"What are you doing in here, Princess?" he asked once it became evident that Kagome had no intention of leaving.

"Hiding," she declared. She hoped she sounded more confident than she felt and that the stable boy wouldn't get it in his mind to make her leave the stables. She doubted he had such authority.

"What makes you think this is a good place to hide?" he asked calmly.

"You're the only one I've ever seen come in here," Kagome said, and then realized she'd just admitted to watching the stables and him. If the boy noticed this slip, he didn't say anything. He continued to brush a particularly unruly mane on a black mare. "And I don't think my tutors would think to look in the stables for the lost princess."

"How very irresponsible of you."

Kagome flared up at his words and sat up a bit straighter. She huffed, feeling scandalized that the stable boy didn't agree with her reasons for coming to the stables. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at his back.

"It's not irresponsible!" she protested.

"Oh?" he asked, still eerily calm. Kagome was growing increasingly angered at the boy's behavior and wished that he would just stop talking. "It's very dangerous for a princess to be wandering around unaccompanied. Especially in this day and age, what with the war going on."

Kagome puffed out her cheeks, resembling a very disgruntled chipmunk. "I do stuff like this all the time."

"I doubt that," he laughed mirthlessly. "You may have gone to stables in your life, but, being born a princess, you've always been accompanied by a chaperone."

"But I haven't always been a—" Kagome cut herself off quickly before she let it slip of her non-royal blood.

The stable boy turned away from the mare, finally, and fixed her with an intense gaze. His dark eyes gazed at her and Kagome squirmed under his gaze, wondering if he'd simply said those things to make her slip up and declare her lack of royal blood. She decided she didn't like the stable boy.

"What's your name?" Kagome questioned once the boy broke the gaze and turned back to the horse.

"Why should I tell you?"

"I'm your future queen," Kagome said hotly, and didn't feel too guilty about holding such a trump card over the boy's head. Normally she'd despise doing such a thing, but he was annoying her and she felt it was in her right to be equally annoying to him.

He sighed and rolled his eyes heavenward. "Of course," he said icily, sweeping into a very mocking boy, "Your Highness."

"Humph," Kagome huffed, "You don't have to act like such a jerk about it."

"My name's Inuyasha," he said fiercely and quickly turned away, running his brush through the horse's hair.

"Inuyasha," Kagome said hesitantly, testing the strange name on her tongue. She mulled over the name for the longest time, contemplating the boy named Inuyasha. He grunted and glanced at her before focusing solely on the job before him.

Kagome stayed in the stables, watching him silently as he worked. If the boy was annoyed or uneasy with the princess sitting in his stable, Inuyasha did not say. He continued to work without one word leaving his lips, and though it looked extremely dull, Kagome would have rather been bored in the stables with Inuyasha than stuck another minute in her bedchamber watching the world outside.

"Today is a nice day," she ventured.

"Hm," he grunted.

Unsatisfied with such an answer, Kagome sat back with a huff and watched the opening of the stables, stretching over long expanses of fields for the royal horses. Beyond that she could just make out a patch of the enchanted forest. The wind rustled the leaves of the trees and the boughs waved to her, as if silently beckoning her to explore their uncharted, unfathomable depths. Kagome was almost tempted, but common sense tied her to the stables, watching the stable boy.

"These horses are beautiful."

"I'm sure they are," he said. "I've grown bored of the creatures."

Kagome frowned. "I hope you didn't get in trouble for what happened last time…?"

She left the question hanging in the air, praying that he hadn't been beaten or hurt in any way. The guards hadn't seemed pleased that Kagome was anywhere near him. She doubted that they'd believed her story, in any case.

Inuyasha shrugged. "They can't do much to me."

Kagome mulled over this curious answer. "I'm still sorry, regardless."

"Hm," he grunted. Kagome flopped back into the hay, staring at the ceiling where she could see stray bird nests.

"Are you going to accept it?"

"What if I don't?" he asked smoothly. Kagome huffed, looking like a disgruntled mother hen. "Don't think about commanding me to do anything again, Highness, it's very unbecoming to exercise your power in such a way."

Kagome blew out a long stream of air, realizing he was right. "Sorry."

"Hm," he said again.

"Do you mind if I stay here?" she asked after a long moment of silence passed between them. The stable boy didn't respond right away and he, instead, occupied himself with his mundane chores. He gave her a rather woebegone smirk before shrugging his shoulders.

"I hardly think my opinion matters, Princess," he said and Kagome could sense his bitterness. He snorted and whipped his head away. "I have a feeling you'd stay here regardless of my feelings towards the arrangement."

"Well, you're right about that," Kagome admitted hesitantly, pursing her lips together into a rather unattractive line. "But it would be nice to be welcomed."

"You cannot order people to be genuine, Princess," he said sullenly. "Only dark magic."

"I know that quite well, thank you," Kagome said harshly, thinking of her tutors and her stepmother, far away on the other side of the castle walls. "I'm not quite as stuffy as you evidently believe me to be."

"Do tell," he said dryly, suggesting that he would have very much preferred her not to tell him anything and just keep her mouth shut. Kagome, however, didn't feel that now would be a good time to start listening to the disgruntled stable boy.

"Yes," she said, sitting up and brushing stray bits of hay from her shoulders. "I was often ordered to act cheerful for the sake of 'morale' or some balderdash like that. I used to brush the horse, and milk the cow, and take the eggs from the chickens for breakfast each morning. I'd sweep the floors and mop afterwards. I'd do the dishes. I'd do the laundry."

He gave her a calculating gaze. "What kind of kingdom makes their princess do such a thing?"

Kagome gasped and clamped a hand over her mouth, her eyes widening in horror. Blast it! She'd let her real history slip out. She was supposed to be a princess, not a capital city citizen from the southern border near the enchanted forest. This was disastrous. Why couldn't Inuyasha be dense like her chaperones were?

"I… I did it as a charity. To my ailing people," Kagome said quickly, hoping that she sounded convincing. She swallowed thickly and felt like she'd never be able to breathe properly again. She looked at Inuyasha's eyebrows so she wouldn't have to focus on his deadly intense irises. "I helped the people of my kingdom with their morning chores, when they were short hands."

"How very kind of you," he said slowly and Kagome could sense his mockery in his voice.

"You think I'm lying," she said tensely.

"Yes," he agreed without missing a beat. He moved away from her, swinging a bucket at his side. She peeked inside and saw food piled to the top. He sniffed and strolled away from her. Kagome quickly scrambled out of the hay and darted after the stable boy. As he walked, Kagome noted bitterly, he moved with the tiniest of limps. No doubt he'd received it for suspicions against stealing the princess away. She felt guilty, despite her disapproval and anger with the boy.

"Well, I'm not," she said. Only a little bit, actually. "I'm not as incompetent as you think."

"You fell face first in the mud," he said calmly and Kagome could almost hear the smirk in his voice. Kagome's hands flew upwards and touched her cheeks, where she could feel the caked on dirt from her grand and amazing entrance back into Inuyasha's life.

"I'm not used to these blasted skirts!" she seethed, picking up the hem of her puffy, overly ostentatious princess dress. She waved them around as if she were about to start one of the many humdrum and ridiculous dances her dancing tutor taught her before huffing and pushing her hands against her hips and jutting out to the side. "It's not something I'm used to."

"Next you're going to tell me you wore rags so you could put your citizens at ease," Inuyasha proposed sardonically.

Kagome eyed him savagely. "I can arrest you in contempt."

He snorted. "I'd like to see any jail hold me."

She didn't particularly like that answer but did not comment on it. She watched him as he circled to the back of the stables, where the chickens clucked and scooted along the dirt. With a tiny sigh that suggested his boredom with the task, Inuyasha threw seed down onto the ground, much to the gleeful delight of the poultry.

He turned her and gave her a tiny smirk before holding the pale of chicken seed out to her. She stared at it as if it'd grown a head and was dancing a jig. She eyed it with suspicious blue eyes before casting him a hesitant look.

"Prove to me you're as charitable as you say," he beckoned, waving the bucket a bit so it glinted in the sunlight.

With a rather flamboyant and over exaggerated hair flip, Kagome marched forward and defiantly plucked the bucket from his hands. "I'd be happy to," she said with the tiniest of snooty sneers, "prepare yourself."

"Oh, I'm prepared," he said sardonically and Kagome wondered how such a sarcastic man came into the servitude of the royal castle.

Making a small clicking noise with her tongue, Kagome spread more food out to the chickens. The chickens, having a field day as they did every time food made an appearance in their lies, clucked happily and fluttered about in the very happy way that chickens do.

"There," she declared, once the chickens ate their fill and Kagome was done. She turned back to Inuyasha, looking quite pleased with herself and quite smug. "How was that?"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm impressed you managed to feed my chickens without once questioning that maybe I was just making you do my chores for me."

She glared at him and stood up to her full height—a none-too-frightening five foot six—and fixed the taller stable boy with an intense and, what she hoped, frightening glare. He was not, however, shaking in his boots as she'd hoped he would. Instead, he cracked a rather irritating and self-satisfying smirk.

"You make me angry," she declared snidely.

"I hope you can tell how saddened I am to hear that," he said sarcastically and Kagome's eyes narrowed.

"You… I… You little… I am… er…" she trailed off, feeling foolish.

"Quite the articulate one, aren't you?" he asked, the smirk still on his lips.

"I hardly think that this is an acceptable way to address your future queen, don't you think?" Kagome asked snidely.

Inuyasha laughed. "Anyone who can willingly marry that little pansy boy, Hojo, deserves none of my loyalty, I think."

Kagome's blue eyes flew open. She gaped at him, and, if it were at all possible, Kagome was sure her jaw would have dropped to the ground at the man's very blunt, and traitorous, words. If her jaw had the ability to completely unhinge, Kagome was quite sure that it would have dropped down into hell by now to say a merry hello to Hades. That would be quite a sight, actually.

He cheekily lifted a hand and snapped her mouth shut. "You're drooling," he drawled out slowly, "which is most unbecoming for a young princess, I must admit."

"You!" she seethed and couldn't think of what to add on after the pronoun. He raised his dark eyebrows questioningly and crossed his arms, silently daring her to say something, to make his day. "You!"

"Me," he agreed.

"Arg!" she screeched out.

"Arg, indeed," he agreed.

"You're making me very angry," she admitted after a moment of silently glaring at him.

Her only response was an overly pompous and egotistical smile. When had his mild-manner 'I'm going to do as the princess says because she's the princess' attitude gone and why did it have to be replaced with the superiority complex?

He waved his arm around, his wrist flipping upwards into what she assumed was a dismissing gesture.

She threw her arms up in the air and stomped away, narrowly avoiding a pile of horse dung, which would only have made matters worse, and stepping through the mud puddles instead. She glanced over her shoulder to see Inuyasha watching her go, laughter in his eyes and his lips still curved upwards into that insatiable smile.

"Roar," she muttered to herself before she realized that she had, indeed, said the word 'roar' while stomping away from the stables like a disgruntled, wild animal. "This is all his fault. Fat lot going down to apologize did. I hate him!"

She stomped all the way up to the front of the castle and threw the large wooden doors open angrily. With clenched fists she ignored the surprised looks of the guards who hadn't even realized she'd disappeared.

"Princess! What are you doing?"

"Princess, what has happened to you?"

"Princess, why do you smell so ghastly? Where have you been? What have you been doing?"

Infuriated, Kagome came to a halt and turned around, giving them what she hoped was a cold and calculating glare.

The men froze instantly.

"I am weary," she said, imagining that they were cowering in their boats, though she knew very well that they were not. She was, after all, a defenseless princess, and they had guns and swords. "I think I will return to my room."

"We shall assist you," two of the guards spoke, leaving the third one in attendance at the door. The two escorting her kept a safe distance away from her, for surely Kagome smelled of mud, sweat, and horses. That didn't stop Kagome from feeling irritated at their obvious disapproval and rejection of her attire.

Her anger towards the guards could be described as one thousand suns all burning with her fury and hatred towards them. Of course, such gaseous monsters were only rivaled by the ten thousand more suns that burned with a fiery hatred towards Inuyasha, the infuriating stable boy.

"Blasted, stupid…" she muttered and grew frustrated when she could not find a proper word to describe what Inuyasha was, exactly. Growing more and more agitated as her ability to insult failed her in such a dramatic way—and just when she truly needed it, too!—Kagome continued to mutter about the stable boy as the guards led her, for the second time, towards her bedchamber.

They said nothing of her mutterings, and, even if they heard them, Kagome knew they would not breathe a word while in her presence. They opened her doors for her and led Kagome inside with the promise of a bath and her chamber maid.

"Blasted, stupid," she reiterated, though still failed to find an insult suitable enough for the stable boy. She stomped around her room, feeling quite distressed and angered at the entire scene that played out in the stables. Today was not shaping out to be her day. At all.

She gazed at herself in the vanity mirror and realized that her cheeks were burned red—no doubt Inuyasha probably thought she was _embarrassed_ and not really boiling over with her rage—and she did indeed have massive amounts of mud on her face, hair, and clothing. No doubt she looked like a drowned rat while in Inuyasha's presence. He was probably standing in the stables, silently congratulating himself on a job well done in regards to humiliating the princess.

"Jerk," she finally decided he was, for lack of a better word. She would have to inquire to Miroku that he let her borrow his dictionary. She was sure that the tutor would be thrilled to see Kagome express an interest in tomes, other than the fairy tales he often let her indulge in. "Jerk," she said again, "that's exactly what he is."

With a nod of her head she wiped her cheek, trying to force the mud away and the blood back down into her heart, where it belonged.


	4. Chapter Three

**Open Your Eyes  
Chapter Three**

---

"You should be happy I managed to sneak out here again," Kagome told Inuyasha's back as he fed the chickens. She sat on the fence, kicking out her legs and watching as her pink skirts billowed around her. She hated the color pink, but her tutors told her that such a feminine color suited the future queen.

"Hm," Inuyasha said. He wasn't much of a talker, Kagome came to realize in all the times she'd come by to talk to Inuyasha.

It really was a miracle that Kagome could navigate the castle without being caught. It had become a bit of an art for the queen-to-be, really. After the first day when she returned with hay in her hair and dirt on her dress, her main tutor had a huge fit, leading to Kagome's worse punishment yet. After that, she was wary to leave the princess alone and the chaperones rarely left her in peace. She managed to sneak out in her independent studying and when she was to be bathing, however.

"I think I may be in the making of a thief or something," Kagome boasted proudly.

Inuyasha paused and scattered the last remnants of chicken feed to the birds before turning around and leaning against the fence casually. His one seeing eye gazed at her squarely, the milky eye hidden beneath his black hair, and he gave her a rather cold looking smirk.

"You? A thief?" he drawled out slowly, cracking his back while arching his back over the fence behind him. The distinctive pop must have satisfied him because he quickly straightened and fixed Kagome with another one of his odd gazes. "Your irresponsibility is going to get me in trouble one of these days."

"You're not kidnapping me or anything," Kagome said firmly, sniffing and turning her nose upwards. "I come here on my own accord."

"I doubt that Charming will accept that."

"What do you know about the prince?" Kagome said, feeling her annoyance grow. She wondered vaguely why she always came back to the stables when she knew that Inuyasha would only annoy her more. "He's very kind-hearted."

Inuyasha laughed.

"What's so funny?" Kagome said, her eyes narrowing.

"You obviously don't know Hojo well," he said.

Kagome flared up and felt her face turn red. "I'll have you know that I know my husband-to-be quite well, thank you. And you shouldn't address him so informally, you know."

"Sorry, Princess," he drawled. She could tell that he wasn't sincere in his apology.

Kagome dimmed and turned away, staring at the horizon beyond, where she could make out the wavering branches of the enchanted forest. She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, feeling ashamed of her behavior. She hated being called a princess, so why did she assert the rule on the stable boy? He was the first person to treat her like a human, and not just a princess, since she got here.

"It doesn't matter," she muttered. Inuyasha grunted as he moved back into the stables to deal with the horses. Kagome stood up from the pile of hay she'd been sitting on and followed after him. She lifted up her dress so as not to get them muddy as they crossed over a long expanse of mud. "You know, a gentleman would help a lady in need," Kagome said slowly as she narrowly avoided splashing mud onto her slippers. She treaded carefully. "Instead of moving so quickly ahead."

"Unfortunately for you I'm not much of a gentleman," Inuyasha told her with the tiniest of smirks dancing across his lips. Despite his annoyance and arrogance, Kagome could tell that Inuyasha was not completely against her presence. If he was, he would have done away with her long ago and alerted the guards of her presence.

"Humph," Kagome replied back, once again awing herself at her wonderful comebacks in such situations. Inuyasha went to brushing and feeding the horses while Kagome flopped down into a pile of hay happily. She was growing used to the scent of horses and the feeling of hay beneath where she laid. She could almost venture to say the hay was comfortable.

Inuyasha looked like was about ready to split something in half. Kagome could see the distinct vein pounding at his temple. She watched it in fascination and took in his steady profile as he worked with the horses. He was frowning and his eyes were narrowed, but Kagome couldn't deny that he was handsome.

She sat up a bit straighter and turned her face away, watching the sun in the sky and the wall the clouds lolled in the sky for a moment. She fiddled with her dress, picking at the excessive amount of ruffles and folds in her dress. She almost missed her rags…

"It's rather boring in the castle," Kagome said conversationally.

She saw his hand clenching the brush tighten and his lips thin as he glared at the horse as if it had done him personal harm. Kagome blinked slowly, taking in the sudden tension mounting in the boy's body. Did he not want to talk to her? Why didn't he just say so?

_He does say so, _Kagome reminded herself.

"I'm sorry your life isn't living up to how you'd like it to," Inuyasha said bitterly. Kagome felt guilty. The stable boy slept in the stables. Of course he'd want to be in the castle.

"Sorry," she muttered quietly. He grunted.

They sat in an uncomfortable silence and Kagome stared at the ceiling again, wondering how long ago the stable was built. Light filtered in through the cracks in the beams and the opened doors on each end of the long rows of horses. She felt a gentle breeze waft through the thick, horsy air. She felt the softness of the hay beneath her back. She much preferred this to sitting in her far-too-big bedchamber.

"You're my friend," Kagome announced loudly, and she hoped that she startled the stable boy.

He did, indeed, pause and cast her a curious gaze. "You don't know me."

"You're still my friend," Kagome said proudly. "My only friend around here," she admitted, "except for maybe Miroku, but I only see him occasionally and that's usually when he's teaching me."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "You consider Miroku a friend?"

"Sure," Kagome said, louder than she intended.

He snorted. "He'll be happy to hear it."

"Don't tell him!" she shrilled and frowned, pursing her lips together and puffing out her cheeks. She looked bloated. She didn't care. "He'll take it the wrong way."

"You don't think I'll take it the wrong way?"

"No," she said confidently, "I don't. Because you're not stupid."

"And Miroku is?"

"No, Miroku's optimistic," Kagome said, wishing he wouldn't twist around her words and just accept that she considered him a friend. "And you're not."

"How do you know?" he accused, leaning against the fence and giving her another inquiring stare. Kagome's lips thinned again and she gave him a calculating look before lifting her gaze back upwards towards the ceiling.

"You're kidding, right?" she asked, barely concealed laughter in her voice. "I'm sorry if I insult you, but you do not strike me as an optimistic."

Inuyasha gave a dry chuckle. "You're right. I was just testing you." He paused, and then added, "Princess."

Kagome's frown deepened. "Why does Prince Hojo not call me by name?" she asked the ceiling, then shifted her gaze towards Inuyasha, who returned smoothly to the horses. "I told him to call me Kagome, but he won't."

Inuyasha shrugged. "Why would I know how that guy thinks?"

Kagome sat up and stared at her feet. "You speak of him so familiarly. I thought that you knew him."

"Well, I don't," he snapped out and Kagome stared at his back in shock. Why was he always so touchy about these subjects? One moment they were joking around and the next he was getting all moody. Kagome, of course, did not sound this opinion simply because she knew the boy could very possibly hurt her while out in the stables unattended. Though she doubted that Inuyasha would hurt her or anything, the uneasy idea was still there, hanging over her head.

"Sorry I brought it up, then," she muttered.

"It's against the rules of the castle to call an unwed, royal woman by her first name," Inuyasha said, "Unless there's a title before it. It's just another stupid rule put in place for no particular reason. He won't call you by name until after you're married. And even after that he may choose not to."

"Oh," Kagome said stupidly. She felt foolish for having asked Hojo to do something against the rules. If she'd listen while Miroku was teaching her, Kagome probably would have known the rule. She felt ridiculous now.

"The bells will ring soon, Princess, and your escorts will return for you in the library," Inuyasha said suddenly. Kagome could never understand how Inuyasha could keep track of the time so well. The bells rang every day when morning melted away into afternoon.

She stood up. "I should be going, then," she said unnecessarily. Inuyasha had already turned away. "Thank you for your company."

"My pleasure," he said, though he lacked any warmth in the two words, suggesting to Kagome that, truly, he found no pleasure in her company. She felt more of a fool still after marching away from the stable. Even though he was brash, Inuyasha really was the only company she had, and the idea that he didn't like her was almost unbearable to her.

---

She stood awkwardly outside the Charming brothers' study. She had a meeting with Hojo later in the evening, but she couldn't stand waiting any longer. She'd grown accustomed to sneaking out of the castle during her independent study, and had yet to be caught doing so; she found that it made for a nice two hours of freedom.

Today, however, she couldn't find the courage to go back outside. Typically, Kagome prided herself in her bravery and valor. After all, growing up with her stepmother, of all people, could truly harden a person. Her father, before his untimely death, often chimed that his daughter was the strongest, bravest person he'd ever met. Kagome took that to heart. She loved her father.

But despite her father's unwavering belief in his daughter's courage, Kagome couldn't find the strength to return to the stables and face more of Inuyasha tolerating her. She liked him, despite his flaws. He was the only person who talked to her like she was a person and not a princess. But, at the same time, Kagome couldn't stand the idea that he didn't like her in return.

Hence, she'd gone off in the opposite direction, sadly staying within the walls of the castle, and searched for her future husband. She'd come upon his study, where she could pick up the trailing voices of her husband and her future brother-in-law. She stood awkwardly outside of the door, wondering if she should knock.

"We're running out of time," Naraku snapped out loudly before Kagome's knuckles could hit against the wooden door before her. She froze and stared at the door in shock. She'd never heard Naraku lose his temper, and, in that moment, he sounded extremely peeved and worried. She could almost imagine a worried Naraku on the other side of the door, pacing and casting nervous glances out the window with such a voice in his throat.

"I know that very well," Hojo returned calmly. Kagome leaned in closer, pressing her ear against the wall so she could better hear it.

"How long are we going to keep that woman in this castle, anyway?" Naraku questioned. "We only have until the eighteenth year before we lose our chance. Do you know what it will mean if we manage to harness the prophecy?"

_Prophecy?_ Kagome questioned silently, her lips pursing together in thought. What about a prophecy?

"I am not as stupid as you evidently believe me to be, brother," Hojo returned smoothly and Kagome nodded her head. Yes, her husband-to-be was calm and knew what he was doing. Naraku should show his elder brother more respect. "Do you not think I've thought of this?"

"We're running out of time! When does the eighteenth year begin?" Naraku demanded.

Hojo sighed, exasperated. "On the Lady Kagome's birthday. You know that quite well. She's the key."

_Key?_ Kagome reeled backwards, feeling nervous. A prophecy… Now her birthday… What was going on? Her birthday was not for several months from now, and yet they were talking about it like it were the start of the end of the world. _Maybe they're discussing the wedding._

But even Kagome was not that foolish. The way they spoke… Kagome was growing very nervous.

"The King's Prophecy will be fulfilled," Hojo reassured. "The future is set in stone and the necessary actions have already been set into motion. The woman has no idea. Her destiny was foreordained. It cannot be undone."

Kagome swallowed thickly, her entire body quacking with the magnitude of the two Charming boys' words. What was going on? How was she involved in this prophecy?

"We must wait," Hojo said tightly, evidently Naraku was making some kind of hushed rebuttal. "If we do it too soon, then we will lose everything."

"What of the others?"

"There are no others!" Hojo hissed tightly and Kagome's blue eyes narrowed in concentration. "She is the only one that can possibly work. The prophecy calls fro the most beautiful. If she is dead…"

"Then she will not be the most beautiful in her world," Naraku snapped back. "The prophecy says 'the most beautiful woman of her world.' If she is dead, then she is the most beautiful of a much different world."

"I do not want another. The prophecy has been set in motion. She is the one that we need," Hojo said loudly, leaving no room for disapproval in his regal voice. "Princess Kagome is the key to our Kingdom and we cannot accept anything less."

"Of course," Naraku said with a sigh of resignation. Kagome could detect the malice and hatred in his breathed words.

She heard footsteps and knew they were approaching the doors. Her heart leapt into her throat and she turned tail and ran faster than she ever had in her life. Her skirts billowed around her and she did not trip. She must have been getting used to the dresses, for she hadn't tripped since her visit to the stables with Inuyasha.

Kagome retreated to the library three stories down and did not halt until she was certain no one was following her and her lungs were not about to explode. She fell to her knees and panted, greedily drawing in air to her weary, tired lungs.

"What was that about?" she whispered, fear in her voice.

---

"Inuyasha!" Kagome burst out, narrowly missing a hit to the head as the said boy spun around, a pitchfork in his hand that nearly slapped her across the face. She ducked and squawked in bewilderment.

He caught her wrist and pulled her upright before she could fall backwards onto her back. She sighed and hesitantly took her hand away, dusting off her pale blue dress and giving the stable boy a mystified look. He snorted and returned to where he was currently shoveling hay.

"I didn't think you were coming today," Inuyasha said lightly, his lips tight.

Kagome had half a mind to tease him about such a statement but she had more pressing matters to attend to. She couldn't trust anyone else in the castle to confide in. For all she knew, they were part of the prophecy as well. But, she could trust Inuyasha. He obviously hated the castle and loathed being the stable boy, so he would not betray her trust.

"Do you know of the King's Prophecy?" Kagome wheezed out, still out of breath from her own marathon around the castle and out to the stables.

Inuyasha froze and he nearly dropped the pitchfork he held. That told Kagome loud and clear that he knew of the prophecy she'd asked about, and that he, at least, knew what it entailed. He gave her a hesitant, calculating look, his one milky eye seeming to stare off into the distance while the other one stared right at her.

"How do you know of the prophecy?" he whispered.

Kagome blinked and swallowed thickly as his golden eyes stared at her and black hair spilled over his shoulders. She fidgeted and clasped her hands together.

"I heard Princes Naraku and Hojo talking about it… and me…" she added, tentatively. Inuyasha continued to stare at her in shock. She bit her lip. "Do you know of it? What is it?"

She didn't want to think that Hojo and Naraku were doing something to endanger her, but, judging from the two princes' talk and Inuyasha's reaction, she had to assume the worst. Did the prophecy mean that she was going to be in danger? Naraku said that she could die. Perhaps Hojo and Naraku were trying to think of a way to save her. Naraku sounded worried and Hojo seemed to be barely restraining his fearful voice (from what she could tell, at least).

No, Hojo and Naraku were trying to protect her. She knew it. Obviously a cruel witch had cast some kind of strange spell on her without her realizing it and the two princes were trying to discover a way to save her. After all, she was going to be part of their family, and, having a dead princess right after an engagement would not be good for the monarchy.

But, that didn't explain Inuyasha's expression. Unless he, too, was worried about her. Surely he didn't want to see her dead, also. That settled it, then, Inuyasha was definitely her friend.

"Those idiots," Inuyasha brought her out from her daydream. She looked at him in confusion. "Speaking of the prophecy so openly. Anyone could overhear. Someone did overhear."

Kagome frowned. "What is the prophecy?"

Inuyasha turned to her, stabbing the pitchfork into the pile of hay. He gave her another calculating look before stalking forward and grasping her hand. She squawked again and tried to yank her hand away, but his grip was firm. She could feel the calluses on his hand.

He turned her hand palm-side upwards and ran his thumb over her own calluses she'd developed from years of work in her old home. She continued to try and take her hand back away from him. He could not see her dirty, worker's hands. Her hands were not that of a princess and truly incriminated her. Anyone with half a brain could see that she was no ordinary princess. And she knew that Inuyasha had a fully functional brain.

He studied her hands and then looked up at her, staring into her blue eyes. He seemed to be peeling away every layer of her soul, leaving her raw, naked, and exposed. She continued to struggle, but he simply gripped harder. He pressed her against the wall and she felt her heart leap into her throat.

"What are you doing?" she whispered as his free hand pressed against her shoulder and prevented her from leaving the wall. She struggled as best she could, but he disallowed her movement.

Finally, he dropped her hand and pressed his hand against her other shoulder. She pressed her worker-worn hands against his chest and pushed with all her might but he wouldn't budge. He smirked at her and Kagome felt as if ice water had been thrown over her head.

"What country did you say you were from again," he whispered icily, "_Princess_?"

He knew. There was no way he couldn't have known. Inuyasha, in all his infinite wisdom, probably knew she wasn't a princess ever since her almost slip-up the other day. There was no way she could have hidden it form him.

"Get off me," Kagome commanded, her entire body shaking. She wouldn't answer him. He could know, but he'd never get her to admit it.

"Have you risen from the ashes, yet?" he murmured, his golden eyes unreadable.

"What are you talking about?" Kagome screeched and struggled against him, trying to kick him in the groin. He seemed to be expecting such a move from her, for he quickly moved out of the way of her tiny feet while still pressing her firmly against the wall.

"Not until you tell me."

"I don't know what you're trying to do," Kagome cried out, "but I want you to stop! I don't know anything about the prophecy. That's why I came to you! Please, let me go!"

He seemed to believe her words because he stepped away from her, releasing her shoulders. Kagome sunk to the ground, ducking her head and pressing her hands against her face, feeling so extremely ashamed of herself. She couldn't protect herself when she needed to most. She was so weak. Her courage escaped her.

"You will be unharmed for the time being," Inuyasha reassured with a wave of his hand. He touched her crown and Kagome stiffened as she felt an indescribable warmth flow through her. But she quickly banished that thought. "You should return to the castle, _Princess_."

Kagome sniffled and stood up defiantly, ignoring the stable boy as best she could. She folded her arms across her chest and gave him the darkest glare she could muster. She hoped that she was striking at least some fear into him. Maybe even some caution, not necessarily fear.

"They'll see that I've been out here. My dress will probably be all dirty," she said, but didn't dare look down because she had to keep her chin up and look defiant.

"Your dress will remain clean," he told her with such confidence that she had to believe him. He waved his hand in a tiny dismissing manner and Kagome knew that he was telling her to go.

"What makes you think I won't report you for attacking me?" Kagome said darkly, knowing that she wouldn't do such a thing. Even if he'd scared her and even if she felt ashamed, he was still her friend.

He grinned at her cheekily. "We're friends," he spoke, as if reading her mind. "You wouldn't do that."

---

Kagome thought that, after meeting her Prince Charming at a ball, she would harbor a soft spot for it and always find magic and happiness in the dance hall. But, Kagome was bored. And it broke her heart to think that she couldn't find that one magical moment again as she had the night she met her future husband.

Kagome knew the ball would be coming. Everyone knew. They planned it the very day after Kagome came to the castle as Hojo's betrothed. The king wanted to celebrate his eldest son's marriage and his future daughter. Kagome, when she first heard the news, was extremely excited to think that she had a chance to talk and dance with Hojo.

But she hadn't even spoken to Hojo. Instead, she was standing next to the two, regal thrones as the King and Queen sat beside one another. On the King's left stood Prince Hojo, Naraku, and his three other younger brothers, Hiten, Manten, and Musou. Kagome stood on the Queen's right, just after her future sisters, Kanna and Kagura.

She stood awkwardly, feeling out of place. Before her, lords and ladies danced with one another in the name of the royal family. Kagome longed to be out there, having fun and enjoying the company of others. Instead, she had to stand and watch for what felt like an eternity.

_Do they even really know me?_ She thought miserably as the vassals danced and laughed. _Do they even care about me for more than just Prince Hojo's betrothed? _

Kagome also couldn't find herself enjoying the ball because of the uneasiness she felt around the royal family. Ever since Inuyasha's reaction to the prophecy in the stables, she kept turning it over and over in her head, trying to think of how the prophecy affected her and what it meant. How did Inuyasha know if it? Why hadn't she heard it? When did it happen? When does it happen?

Questions plagued Kagome's confused and muddied mind and she couldn't find a solid answer to build a foundation of truth from. She was in the dark, blindly searching for a clue that she knew she'd never find in the infinite expanse of darkness.

She shifted awkwardly and watched as Hiten glanced at her before smirking and looking away. Did Hiten know of the prophecy? Did the entire royal family know of the prophecy? Why was she the one in the dark? What was happening?

"It's time, My Lady," a young squire said, dipping into a deep bow. Kagome started in surprise and glanced at her future parents. The King nodded and Kagome curtseyed.

"Forgive me," Kagome said quietly, mustering up all her Princess Laws and trying to be diplomatic in her endeavor for a question. "But what is it time for?"

"Why, My Lady," the boy marveled, "The Prince Hojo and yourself are to announce your engagement officially and you are to demonstrate your beauty to the crowd."

"Oh," Kagome said stupidly and allowed the young boy to guide her towards the platform where she can Hojo would stand and speak. Hojo climbed the steps on the opposite end and met her there.

The walk seemed to be taking forever. She became dimly aware that, as she walked, someone was walking up beside and guiding her along instead, taking her hand and shooing the smaller boy away.

She glanced over and her eyes widened. "Inuyasha? What are you doing?"

"Escorting you," he said simply.

"I know that," she said frigidly and sniffed defiantly. "I meant what are you doing here? I don't think they allow stable boy sin here. Besides, you smell like horses and chickens."

He smirked at her and Kagome gave a small humph as he guided her slowly towards the platform. The lords and ladies were still dancing and did not know of the movement of princess towards the prince.

"I just came to check on you," Inuyasha said smoothly, expertly ignoring her jab at his personal hygiene.

"Well, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "You seemed to be on edge all evening. I would have thought you'd love balls since you met your true love there," he jabbed. "Why such a long face?"

"Well, I haven't gotten to dance all evening. My dancing tutor says that I'm a disgrace to the art of dance," she said with a sniff. "Obviously Prince Hojo didn't care when I met him. But, really, I've just been very nervous in this castle ever since… I heard about the prophecy." Why was she telling him this? She knew the answer: because she trusted him.

"Dance with me, then," he said instantly and tugged her away from the path towards the platform. Kagome barely managed to suppress her squeak of surprise as Inuyasha twirled her around.

"You don't strike me as the type to want to dance," Kagome said hotly as Inuyasha looked off in the opposite direction towards the royal family. Hojo seemed peeved as he watched Kagome's escort guide her away. The King sat up a bit straighter.

"I hate dancing," he told her, "but I still have more I need to talk to you about and our time together was growing short."

"Huh," Kagome said with a huff. "You could have just said something nice like 'I do it because I know you want to, Kagome.'"

"Ha," he laughed.

Kagome frowned. "What is it that you want?"

"I'm just wondering how, besides your nervousness, you're doing in this castle?" he questioned.

Kagome sighed. "Evidently I'm bored, as you can probably tell. You're the most exciting thing I've seen in a month, I must admit. That's why I keep coming out to the stables. But I just wish something would happen. I thought that when I became a—I mean, when I came to this castle from my own, I would find more excitement, but it's just as boring as ever. Though now I have much less to do so it seems even more unbearable."

She almost wished she could be doing chores. At least that would pass the time for her.

"Then allow me to relieve you of such a burden," he told her smoothly.

Kagome became increasingly aware that he'd stopped dancing with her and he was gripping her hands tightly between his much larger one. She narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?"

He turned away from her and, with his free hand, ducked his hand into his long, billowing coat. Kagome's eyes widened as he withdrew a long, sharp sword. She gasped as he twisted her around and pressed the blade to her throat.

Suddenly, the entire world burst into startling focus but the sound disappeared. The orchestra stopped playing and the dancing couples backed away from the stable boy and princess quickly, their eyes wide and their mouths dropped open in shock. Hojo seemed extremely scandalized and the royal family all stood to their feet.

Kagome was too terrified to speak and didn't bother trying to pull away from him. The fear of the sharp blade against her long neck silenced any attempt of escape.

"Inuyasha!" Hojo shouted and Kagome was only dimly surprised that the prince knew the stable boy's name. "What are you doing here?"

"You're an idiot, Hojo," Inuyasha laughed, tilting his head to the side and fixing his one seeing-eye on the befuddled prince. "I've been under your nose all these years and you've been too stupid to even notice me? Who do you think took care of your horses all these years?"

"How did you get in here?" the King roared and it was the first time Kagome ever heard him speak. She gaped at both Inuyasha and the king. "I banished you!"

"Well, I came back," Inuyasha laughed. "You should know that no walls can hold me."

"Release the princess!" Hojo demanded. "You dirty her with your filthy bandit hands."

_Bandit!_ Suddenly the world seemed like a far darker and dangerous place than it had been before. She was in the arms of a bandit. He was only pretending to be a stable boy.

Inuyasha laughed harder still. "No, I think I'll hold on to her for a while."

He released her hands but before Kagome could even fathom means of escape, he'd wrapped his arm around her waist and was slowly walking backwards towards the balcony doors leading to the outside world. Kagome was safe here. Why wasn't anyone saving her?

His hand, positioned near his pocket despite his hold on her waist, slipped inside and grasped something. He pulled it out and Kagome could see he held a fist full of what looked like black powder.

"You should have been watching your key more closely," he laughed, "now I possess it."

With that, he opened his palm and blew the black dust away from him. It seemed to waver in the air for half a second before it fell toward the earth.

"Don't close your eyes," he commanded and suddenly the world enveloped into darkness as the black dust touched down onto the palace floor.


	5. Chapter Four

**Open Your Eyes  
Chapter Four**

---

Kagome had never been in such darkness in her entire life. It seemed like an unnatural dark, and she knew that Inuyasha had been the cause of it. She shivered in the darkness.

She felt stone cold, but knew that she'd jumped from the metaphorical frying pan and into the burning, scary fire. She didn't even protest when she felt Inuyasha scoop her up and throw her unceremoniously over his shoulder like she were a mere sack of horse feed and dash in some unknown, random direction.

Despite her silence and shock, however, the castle was anything but silent. The world had been thrown into an uproar and she could hear loyal servants to the throne scurrying around like maniacs and Prince Naraku screaming out directions to the guards to track down the man who'd kidnapped Princess Kagome.

Kidnapped.

Who would have thought that her happily ever after was leading into something as terrible as this? Just when everything was going right, too. She was about to get married and now this imposter was taking her away.

She heard glass shattering and soon her entire world burst back into life. She blinked and looked back towards the castle, where she couldn't even the see the tiniest flicker of light in the windows. Inuyasha seemed to be soaring across the grounds, running faster than she'd ever seen a human run before.

"Let me go!" she screamed. It seemed that the return of vision prompted her other senses, as well. She started pounding on Inuyasha's back and trying to kick at his chin. He didn't say a word and seemed rather undaunted by her attempts to escape. "I command you to release me."

He still said nothing more but Kagome thought she heard a distinct, amused chuckle. Kagome, growing more and more frustrated, started pounding harder against Inuyasha's back and screaming fruitlessly for him to release her.

"I don't know how you managed to make that room go dark, but they're going to find you, regardless!" she threatened, her fists pounding against an unresponsive Inuyasha's back until her hands turned red.

He laughed. "It's magic, Princess. I wouldn't tempt it, if I were you."

Kagome stiffened and stared at the retreating castle as Inuyasha darted over the wall and into the world she used to live in. She felt a burst of familiarity as he ran down the cobblestone streets in the center of the dark town. No one stirred from their bedroom windows. No one was going to save her.

Then something clicked in Kagome's head. Magic?

"Sorcerer?" she whispered, terrified. The only magic Kagome had ever dealt with was her own fairy Godmother, and the woman had terrified her in her time of need, despite the true kindness the woman had showed her. Before that time, Kagome would dismiss anything magical as myth. But she hadn't known that wizards were real, too.

He laughed again, as if ever word she said was an amusing joke. Under any other occasion, Kagome would have been thrilled that she could make him laugh. Due to the current situation, however, Kagome felt dry and bitter and felt like each one of his chuckles were a cut into her tiny frame.

"You seem to be catching on, Princess," he said as he ran down the darkened streets of her home. He was heading towards her old home, Kagome realized vaguely, but knew that she would not be returning to that manor. No, Inuyasha, the bandit who knew magic, was streaming towards the enchanted forest. She just knew it. Once he got in there, she was done for.

"You mean to tell me you've been a wizard this entire time?" Kagome screeched, looking rather put upon.

He glanced at her, and Kagome could see the milky eye beneath his long black bangs. She shivered, but refused to break her gaze away from his strange eyes—a beautiful golden color, they were…

"Yes," he said simply. Kagome struggled and tried to get away from him. His hold on her tightened. "You think you'd be a bit more grateful to me, Princess. After all the spells I cast for you."

"What?" Kagome squawked loudly. "You were casting spells on me?"

"No, not on you. For you," he insisted, "stupid girl."

"What did you do to me?" she demanded, a sense of urgency in her voice.

Inuyasha tsked quietly and shook his head. He continued to run, but he wasn't winded. Probably magic, Kagome realized vaguely. "I made it so that you could make it to and from the stables without being caught. I just used a _harmless_ distraction spell."

"What?" Kagome protested, clearly outraged. She'd been so proud of herself and her ability to sneak around the castle without being caught. To learn that it was magic, of all things, and from Inuyasha, of all people, crushed her self confidence down a couple pegs.

"And I gave you some luck," he said easily, looking upwards towards the sky as he tried to collect his thoughts. "So that your clumsiness wouldn't kick in while walking through the muddy fields and gardens." That, too, knocked down Kagome a couple pegs, for she thought that for one wild moment she'd been actually graceful. "Small things like that. Nothing big."

Kagome flared up. "I don't need help from a lying… a lying _bandit_! You lied to me. You lied to everyone! And to think that I trusted you!"

"You hand out your trust far too quickly, Princess," Inuyasha chided. "You should know that, in this country, royalty are often sought after for a ransom."

"So that's what this is for, then?" Kagome glared. "Ransom?"

"Oh no, you," he said, his lips turning upwards into a devilish smirk, "are far more important than that, let me reassure you. I don't plan on bringing you back to Hojo, ever. You're an important key, Princess. You're my key."

"I am most certainly no one's key, thank you very much," Kagome said hotly. "And I'll thank you for putting me down and letting me go back to the castle."

"Do you think I'm stupid, woman?" Inuyasha said, the laughter in his eyes gone. He gave her a darkened look and his pace slowed down. He darted into back alleys and moved along the shadows, with Kagome still draped over his shoulder. "Like I'd give up this chance."

"What do you need me for?" Kagome whispered.

"You're going to help me fulfill the King's Prophecy, of course," Inuyasha said calmly as he moved along a dark, abandoned street. Kagome stilled, her curiosity overpowering her extreme disgust with Inuyasha's present behavior.

"What is the King's Prophecy, anyway? I know you know it," Kagome whispered. She remembered all too well Inuyasha's behavior in the stables when he'd mentioned it. The memory was so fresh, so raw. He'd been a completely different person in that moment. His one seeing-eye had dimmed with emotions she hadn't known he possessed. That look still haunted her.

"This is neither the time nor the place," Inuyasha murmured. He glanced around a corner before quickly whipping back around and pressing his back against the wall. He swallowed and quickly pressed his hand against her mouth. Kagome stilled. "Guards."

Sure enough, Kagome could hear the scampering of the castle's guards. They must have found their way out of the darkness in the castle. She tried to scream through his hand, but Inuyasha whispered something that wasn't any language she'd ever heard before. She felt a strange squeeze in her throat and suddenly the muffled scream against his hand disappeared. She struggled to open her mouth but her lips seemed to be clamped shut.

"Silencing spell," Inuyasha murmured. She gave him a frightened look. "Don't worry, it's harmless, too. It will wear off soon." He glanced around, making sure no one was listening to him. He didn't want to attract the guards' attentions. "It's only temporary. I just don't want you giving us away, Princess."

With that, he launched forward, grasping her around the waist and darting off towards the forest. She hadn't realized how close it was. She could see her old home about half a mile away from her. Her heart throbbed with yearning for her dead mother and father. She struggled against Inuyasha, wanting to scream but knowing that she couldn't.

They entered into the enchanted forest and Kagome felt as if a warm hand had surrounded her and squeezed. She could feel the magic pulsing in the woods as Inuyasha moved faster and faster through the trees. She'd never felt this enchanting power before, and Kagome lived right next to the forest. Used to live…

She heard a horse trotting behind the next line of trees, and suddenly Miroku emerged. He gave Inuyasha a deep, intense look before his blue eyes fell on Kagome. Kagome stiffened and then her heart soared. She was saved!

"You took longer than expected," Miroku said, dismounting the horse and approaching the wizard and his captor. Kagome stilled. "I was beginning to think you were caught."

"You think so little of me," Inuyasha snorted and looked away from the dark haired man. He turned his attention to Kagome. "Well, princess. Time to go."

Kagome turned fearful eyes towards Miroku. "Mi…ku!"

So the silencing spell was already beginning to wear off. She was obviously not under a strong spell.

Miroku gave her an apologetic look, which further crushed Kagome's poor, hopeful heart. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, "Princess Kagome."

Inuyasha gave her a dark look before unceremoniously dropping her onto the ground. She gasped in surprise as she landed on the hard, dirty ground and landed in something she hoped was mud.

"Get up, we've got to go," Inuyasha barked. "And don't even think about trying to run away. We'll catch you."

She gave Miroku another pleading look, begging for him to be on her side. But it was no use, Miroku was on Inuyasha's team and they were both going to kidnap her. She felt as if her entire world had been cut away from her and she was left with nothing but her memories.

But her old home was close. If she could somehow get away and get help from, dare she say it, her stepmother, then she could be saved and return to the castle. Her heart fluttered at the idea of returning to her home.

She slowly stood up and felt Inuyasha seize her forearm and help haul her to her feet. Kagome swallowed thickly and tried to summon all her courage. She was not a weak little thing. She was not as weak as Inuyasha thought her to be.

"Le'go!" she screeched, but her words were still muffled, as if cotton was stuffed into her mouth. She scrambled to her feet and waved her arms around, trying to wretch herself out of Inuyasha's grasp. She lifted her leg to kick Inuyasha. Her foot landed perfectly into Inuyasha's groin.

Wizard or no, no man could just continue to stand there and put up an effort. He gasped loudly and fell to his knees, looking worse for wear. Kagome didn't dare wait around for him to recover. Miroku knelt beside the sorcerer.

"Get her," he wheezed before falling over and cursing the princess' name.

Kagome ran like hell was on her heels. She scrambled through the enchanted forest, her feet aching as her ankles rolled into potholes and tripped over tree roots. Her foot landed on her skirts and she fell over with a large, terrifying rip. She stared at the expensive silks she'd been draped in only to see half of her dress lying uselessly on the ground.

Well, at least it freed her legs for movement. She jumped to her feet and was off again, her muddy legs visible from the knees down. She lost her slipper at one point throughout the entire ordeal, and she thought the situation a startling contrast to the last time she'd lost her slipper. Oh how things could change in a little over a month!

'_What have I done to deserve this?'_ she thought miserably as she scrambled out of the enchanted forest and saw her old manor in front of her. Her heart soared and she raced towards the house, trying to think of a logical excuse as to why she'd burst into such a house in the middle of the night.

Would her stepmother even let her stay?

Kagome swallowed and decided that she'd just hide in the house. There was no need for anyone to know she was in the house. She'd wait until morning and then she'd return to the castle. Inuyasha wouldn't find her here.

She slowed once she reached the door and turned to look over her shoulder, hoping that Inuyasha was no hot on her heels. Apparently his future children were far more important than finding her, for no one emerged from the forest. Miroku must have lost her, too.

Feeling victorious, the girl opened the back door and it screamed out a loud creak. She froze. How could she have forgotten that her back door made that loud squeak? Anyone who was a light sleeper—as her stepmother was—would be able to hear it.

Swallowing, and praying that no one heard the loud, incriminating noise, Kagome entered the house and shut the door shut quickly. She looked around, wondering where to go and hide. Her entire body was muddy and dirty, so surely she'd leave a trail wherever she hid.

Well, as long as Inuyasha didn't find her she'd be fine. She'd take her stepmother over Inuyasha any day. At least with her stepmother she knew what the woman was capable of. If her stepmother found her, then she'd just explain what happened and command that she follow orders. Her stepmother wouldn't sacrifice a chance to get on the king's good graces—and saving his future daughter-in-law from the clutches of a vile, banished bandit would surely get her in those said good graces.

Now that only left the job of finding a suitable place to hide until morning. She glanced over her shoulder again and looked out the window. Still no Miroku or Inuyasha. Thank goodness.

"Who's there?" a voice suddenly snapped out into the darkness, and the flickering light of a candle danced down the walls.

Kagome pressed herself tightly against the wall, feeling fear grip her spine. Why did her stepmother have to wake up now? She just needed a place to hide, that was all!

So much for staying firm against her stepmother and commanding her to listen. Just hearing the woman's voice sent shivers down her spine and she felt foolish and weak for having such a reaction to the woman. But she'd hurt Kagome. She'd hurt her so much.

"Who's there?" her stepmother repeated and Kagome swallowed thickly, trying to find a suitable place to hide. The kitchen was just as bare as she remembered it to be. There was nowhere to hide, and she very well couldn't walk back out the door and straight into Inuyasha's arms, either.

But before Kagome could even begin to think of a place to run to, her stepmother stepped into the kitchen, her candle held aloft as she gazed into the dark room. She stared at Kagome as if she really didn't see the girl. Then, slowly, she blinked before her mouth flopped open.

"I knew it," she said, and she didn't sound the least bit surprised. In fact, it sounded as if she were barely restraining her glee. "I knew they'd get sick of you and kick you out."

Kagome's fear evaporated faster than a puddle in a desert. She gave her stepmother her most defiant and princess-like look, hoping that she'd strike some kind of nobility into the woman's heart. She no longer lived here. She was free. She gave her stepmother a deep look and saw the older woman's lips thin.

Kagome opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out. With a sudden, sick realization she remembered that she still had a silencing spell placed on her from Inuyasha.

A strangled, soft, noise erupted from Kagome's lips but it sounded nothing like a word. "Be'soud."

'_Damn him,'_ she thought miserably as she struggled to form a coherent word to aim at her stepmother. _'Why does he have to be a sorcerer _and_ a bandit, of all things?'_

"Well, don't you have anything to say, you insolent brat?" the woman snapped and Kagome felt her anger grow. Who did this woman think she was?

Now that she was out of the castle, the woman truly didn't seem as big and scary as she once was. In fact, she looked rather petty and pathetic. Almost weak, in a way. When had this woman, who represented all the fear Kagome ever harbored, suddenly turned into a pathetic creature not even worth her attentions?

'_I'm a princess now. I live in the castle. She is nothing.'_

She was in the eye of the storm now. She could feel it.

Determining that she was, indeed, more powerful than her stepmother, after so many years of servitude, Kagome felt a burst of courage swell in her chest. Standing up a big straighter, and walking with a posture even her walking instructor would be proud of, Kagome strolled defiantly past her stepmother.

The woman was shocked and didn't say anything for half a moment before she whirled around, sending drops of wax through the air in tiny arcs.

"And where do you think you're going, you little brat?" she snarled out and grasped Kagome's shoulder, tugging her back.

Kagome squeaked, despite herself, and silently cursed her unprotected back. She should have known the woman would do something like this. She wished she could say all the things she wanted to say in that moment.

The woman threw Kagome back and she slammed against the wall. The woman advanced on her, the candlelight casting devilish and positively evil shadows across her face. She looked absolutely ugly in that moment, and not just from a beauty standpoint. Her beady eyes glared down at her stepdaughter.

"You are not welcomed in my house," the woman hissed, the candle held dangerously close to Kagome's long, luxurious hair. Kagome eyed it hesitantly, wondering to what lengths her stepmother would go to eliminate Kagome. Her hair had always been an object of pride for her—it was considered to many one of her more beautiful traits.

They stared at one another for what felt like hours, but could have very well been only a few minutes. Kagome refused to cast her eyes away. She would not.

"I was not kicked out," she said simply. "I'm here to hide."

'_Of course, now I can speak,'_ she thought snidely. She was going to kill Inuyasha. If he didn't kill her first.

"There's no place for you here unless you're coming to be our servant," the woman said. "You are no longer welcomed here as a daughter. If you must insist on telling stories, do so after you've cleaned all the floors and washed the dishes. You should be thankful that I'm even considering you coming back."

Kagome flared up. "I'm being kidnapped!"

The woman gave her a dark look. "Don't lie, you stupid bitch."

"I'm not lying!" she screamed out and silently soared at her ability to speak clearly again. She swallowed thickly and gave the woman a dark look. Her fists clenched. "I'm being kidnapped by a bandit and I need a place to stay until—"

Kagome didn't get to finish her sentence because in that moment a hand connected to her cheek and sent her face off to the side. She'd been slapped. The woman continued to slap the girl's cheeks and Kagome lifted her head as each slap sent a shock of pain down her spine.

"Stop," she commanded.

"Don't you dare order me around, you little brat. You are not a princess," she snarled and her fist clenched and she punched Kagome in the cheek, sending the girl to the ground. A foot landed on her side and kicked her against the wall. Kagome coughed. She wasn't strong enough to stand up against this woman. She held all her old fears and wishes in the palm of her hand, and Kagome couldn't stand up against her.

She dug her heel into Kagome's back and the girl stiffened in pain, but refused to cry out. This was so typical. The moment she came back to her old home, she was beaten for it. This was so typical of her old life. Every time she'd done something wrong this was the result. Though her stepsisters weren't around to laugh at her this time.

'_I can't stand up against her,'_ Kagome bemoaned, clenching her eyes shut in her shame. _'I thought I could stand up against her, but I'm nothing. I'm weak. I can't protect myself.'_

But suddenly the pain was gone. Suddenly, with a muffled shout, the candlelight extinguished and she was bathed into darkness. Kagome bleakly lifted her head, her entire body sore and tired from the woman's onslaught.

"You stupid girl," a man's voice whispered and Kagome recognized it at once as the captor she'd escaped from. Kagome felt a small cry escape her. In that moment, she realized that, despite the fact he was kidnapping her, Kagome would choose him over that woman any day.

She lifted herself up and touched his arm, trying to solidify that he was kneeling there beside her. She saw her stepmother passed out on the floor, the dead candle smoking uselessly beside her frail body. Was she really that frail? Why was Kagome so weak against that woman?

"You stupid girl," Inuyasha repeated and scooped her up. Kagome didn't protest, though she had to wonder why she was letting her kidnapper take her away so easily. For all she knew, he could be far worse than that woman was. "You damn stupid girl."

"Shut up," Kagome demanded, feeling weak and tired. Her body ached. "How'd you find me?"

"You left a trail of dress," Inuyasha said snidely and easily stepped over the woman's prone body as he walked towards the door. He walked through it and carried her away from the place of good and bad memories.

On the ground, sure enough, she could see the severed shreds of her dress. She probably looked like the servant she used to be now. No one was going to save her now.

She wasn't sure how she felt in this situation. She couldn't find the courage to bring up any protesting and instead gave him a rather mystified look. He didn't say anything, but quickly darted off into the night.


	6. Chapter Five

**Open Your Eyes  
Chapter Five**

---

"I can walk, you know," Kagome complained for what felt like the thousandth time that day. She sat, with her arms crossed defiantly over her chest, on the horse Miroku had been riding earlier. Miroku guided the horse, walking in front, while Inuyasha walked beside her, not daring to let her out of his sight.

Inuyasha, however, seemed to share Kagome's opinion on how much she'd been speaking lately. He gave her a dark, warning glance before kicking a rock out of his path. He hadn't quite forgiven her for the kick to the family jewels, but Kagome really couldn't blame him—much. It was self defense, and she wasn't strong enough to fight him in a clean fight.

She turned her face away, watching the way the forest swayed with the horse's uneven steps over the unfamiliar terrain.

"Where are the others?" Miroku asked, glancing over his shoulder at Inuyasha as they walked.

"They're still a bit of a ways away," Inuyasha said, sounding much friendlier with Miroku than he did with Kagome. "They're positioned outside Hangleton."

Kagome perked up a bit. She'd never been outside her home, and, despite the terrible situation she was in, she couldn't help but feel curious about the cities and worlds beyond her own. Inuyasha noticed her movement and turned his face around, his one seeing eye looking at her skeptically while the milky one stared off into nothingness. Kagome wondered how he'd gone blind in one eye, and not for the first time.

"I've never been to Hangleton," Kagome said, an almost pleading tone in her voice. "What's it like?"

"A bit like the capital, Princess," Miroku supplied before Inuyasha could open his mouth and insult her childlike curiosity. "Though smaller in size and population."

"And it doesn't have the castle," Inuyasha muttered bitterly, his eyes narrowing for a second.

Miroku sighed, "Yes, that too."

"Why do you need to fulfill the King's Prophecy, anyway?" Kagome asked suddenly, leaning over in her saddle and nearly falling off the horse she sat on. The said equine didn't seem to mind her jerky movements and continued walking along with Miroku. "Why am I so important to you?"

Inuyasha gave her a deep look. "That is not the business of the key to know."

Kagome huffed. "Well, if I'm this supposed 'key' then I think that it's only fair that you at least give me a _hint_ about what you plan to do with me."

"By the end of this, you may very well be dead," Inuyasha said snidely and continued walking, a bit faster, and jostling Miroku to pick up the pace, too. He didn't meet Kagome's eyes after that.

Kagome sat still on the horse, feeling all the life drain out of her again. Her tattered dress swayed around at her knees, and she felt as if a small part of her soul was tattered, as well. Inuyasha had stolen her away from the castle and from her future husband, and now she may die in the process of this prophecy? Inuyasha had been her first friend in her entire life, and his words were cruel.

She stared down at her small feet, one of which was missing its slipper. She sighed sadly and felt a large sense of sadness overflow her. She wished she knew what she was really in for. Would she die? She didn't want to die.

'_You won't die,'_ Kagome reminded herself, _'Hojo will save you.'_

That thought seemed to cheer her considerably, because within an hour she was back to asking more prying questions at Miroku and Inuyasha. Both men did not seem too pleased at her revival and tried to ignore her as best they could.

"So, why did you guys decide to become bandits?" Kagome asked silkily as she leaned across her horse and stared at Inuyasha's profile.

"Why did you decide to become a princess?" Inuyasha shot back.

Kagome knew she was on thin ice. "I didn't decide to become one. I just am."

'_Not a complete lie,'_ she told herself as they continued their trek. She hadn't necessarily decided to be a princess. If Hojo had been a poor stable boy, like she thought Inuyasha had been, she would have gone with him regardless. His position meant nothing to her.

"Bandit is a harsh word, Princess," Miroku said sweetly, turning his head and giving her a small smile. His eyes glowed and for a brief moment Kagome forgot that he was working with Inuyasha and thought that maybe, just maybe, he was on her side. "I like to think of us as nomads, really."

"Ha," Inuyasha laughed. "We're outcasts and outlaws, Miroku, of _course_ we're bandits. We travel around like nomads because we've got no choice."

Kagome didn't miss the bitterness in his voice and did not comment further on that train of thought. Did Inuyasha not want to move around? He seemed like the type who would love to travel and keep on moving, like a nomad. But she could see the malice and anger swirling in his golden eyes and wondered what had happened to make them both outlaws.

"Then how did you two manage to stay in the castle without being caught?" Kagome asked.

"It's an art, Princess," Miroku said with a smile. "I, up until this point, was actually not considered an outlaw. Though I suppose after your kidnapping that will quickly change."

"Miroku was clean, and he had a decent job in the castle," Inuyasha said darkly, and Kagome could still hear that sullenness, though it sounded a bit different now. She watched Inuyasha give Miroku a disapproving look.

"I chose to follow you, my friend," Miroku said, smiling benignly at Inuyasha. "I do not regret becoming a bandit." He turned his attention away from his friend and returned it to Kagome. "My father was Prince Naraku's tutor before he passed away, and I was to take his place. I, however, have no interest in teaching. But after you came to the castle and the prophecy…"

He trailed off when Inuyasha gave him a warning look.

He cleared his throat, "But then I was assigned as your tutor, as well. That sent the whole thing in motion. I wanted to get out of that tutoring job ever since I started it. One day, a good four years ago, I stumbled upon the stables and Inuyasha and it all went from there."

He shrugged his shoulders, signaling an end to his vague and far-too-short story. Kagome silently begged him to elaborate more, but Miroku's mouth did not open again.

"I, on the other hand," Inuyasha said after the silence stretched on, "was never detected. The men in the castle are fools, and didn't realize who I was."

"_Who_ are you to them?" Kagome asked.

"You are a nosy girl, Princess," Inuyasha said warningly and jerked his head upwards, watching the sun through the tree coverage. It seemed that all around them the enchanted forest was whispering to them, though Kagome could not yet hear its words. "It does not matter who I am or was to them. All that matters is that I've got the key now, and that will tear them up inside. They will stop at nothing to get the key to the prophecy back."

Kagome didn't like to think that the only reason she'd be rescued was to save the key of the prophecy. She didn't believe it for a second. Hojo loved her and she loved him in return. He would save her and they would get married, just like they were supposed to.

"Hangleton is near," Miroku whispered, breaking the uncomfortable silence weaving between the bandit and princess.

Sure enough, if Kagome listened hard enough she could hear the hustle and bustle of a town in movement. She couldn't see the city through the thick expanse of trees, but knew that she was farther away from home now than she'd ever been in her life.

"They're in the enchanted forest," Inuyasha supplied when Miroku opened his mouth. "Due North of here."

They shifted directions and continued weaving through the trees. The sounds at Kagome's back soon faded away and she knew that, despite the fact she was far from home, she could not see anything outside of the enchanted forest. She was with fugitives, after all, and they couldn't very well stroll down the street with a kidnapped princess on their horse's back.

After what felt like an eternity, though in actuality was only another quarter of an hour, there was a break in the trees and Kagome felt the sunlight shower down on her. She blinked her blue eyes, trying to adjust to the bright sunlight after hours of filtered light in the forest.

Her eyes widened when she saw the small camp they'd stumbled upon. Wooden caravans with horses encircled the clearing they'd stepped into, and there were half a dozen tents. Laundry hung on lines, fires smoked, food cooked… it was like a small little village.

'_This is the group of bandits,'_ Kagome realized idly as she watched the movements of what looked like a large family.

"Inuyasha's home!" a voice screamed out and Kagome watched a girl who looked younger than even herself dart forward and nearly jump into the equally surprised bandit's arms. She clamped onto his right arm as he tried to pull away.

"Rin, get off," Inuyasha ordered and the young girl named Rin did so, grinning at the tall man sheepishly. Her eyes rolled over to Kagome, sitting on the horse. Her eyes widened.

"The princess?" she marveled and Miroku nodded. She took a step closer. "You're Princess Kagome?"

"Yes?" Kagome asked, unsure what kind of answer Rin was looking for.

Rin's eyes sparkled. "You are as beautiful as they say."

"Eh?" Kagome asked stupidly and felt her cheeks turn pink.

"That is what the royal family judged on, after all," Inuyasha said bitterly and gave the princess a dark look. Kagome frowned and glared back at him. "It doesn't matter what kind of person she is, as long as she's the most beautiful woman ever born."

"I hardly think that I'm…"

"It doesn't matter," Inuyasha snapped. "What matters is that they chose you, regardless, and your fate is sealed."

"Inuyasha…" Miroku began.

"Shut up, Miroku," Inuyasha barked. "Rin," he ordered and the girl stood up a bit straighter. "Bring the princess to Sango's tent and take care of her there."

"Sure thing, Captain!" Rin beamed and saluted. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and stalked away towards the other side of the camp, knocking down a clothesline in his wake. Rin turned her attention back to the princess. "Don't mind him, he's just a bit grumpy. He gets like that whenever he has to go to the castle."

"Why?" Kagome whispered. Somehow, despite her situation, she didn't feel scared under Rin's watch.

This entire ordeal seemed dreamlike. Perhaps Kagome wasn't too afraid because she knew that Hojo would save her.

Rin pressed a finger to her lips. "I'm not allowed to tell you. Come on, let's go over to Sango's tent!"

"Who's Sango?" Kagome asked.

Who Sango was, however, Kagome could only guess, because Rin didn't answer her and instead tugged her off the horse and pulled her towards the row of tents. The young girl waved goodbye to Miroku, who went to tie up the horse with the small makeshift corral harboring other mares and stallions.

"Sangooooo!" Rin sang out as she brushed aside the canvas of a tent. Inside, Kagome could see a beautiful, lush rug, and a cot with blankets and a pillow. There was girl in the tent with a young boy—about the age of Rin—and she was bandaging up the said boy's forearm. "Oh, Kohaku, hello!"

The boy, who Kagome could only assume was Kohaku, blushed a bit and returned Rin's cheerful smile.

"All done," the other resident in the tent, Sango, said with a benevolent smile. She patted the boy's shoulder. "Take care, Kohaku, and try not to cut yourself next time."

"Thanks, sis," Kohaku said and quickly left the tent, not looking at Rin again.

Rin didn't seem to notice the embarrassment of Kohaku, because she sashayed her way into Sango's tent and presented Kagome like she were a prize to be won. "Ta da," she chirped, "I present to you Princess Kagome."

The girl named Sango stood up and dusted off her long tunic. She gave Kagome a once over before smiling sweetly at the girl and giving a tiny, clumsy curtsey. Kagome's walking tutor would fall down from shame if she saw such a poor excuse for a curtsey. "Hello," she said, "Welcome."

"Inuyasha told me to tell you to take care of her," Rin chirped.

"Hm," Sango said with a nod. "Well, I'm sure she's hungry. Go get her some food. There should be some left over from breakfast."

Rin did as she was told and quickly left the tent in search of nutrition for Kagome.

"Poor thing," Sango said with a shake of her head. "You must have been traveling all night. And your dress is in tatters. Inuyasha was never one to treat a prisoner with respect, of course, but really."

"Guards were chasing us, I suppose," Kagome said. "That would make anyone rush."

"Yes, Inuyasha has a tendency to have that happen, too," Sango agreed. Kagome smiled. She liked Sango already.

"Um…" Kagome felt embarrassed. She knew that she should be planning her escape and trying to find a weak point with Sango, but she looked like the kind of girl that should have been her sister—instead of the witch's children she was forced to call family.

"I'm sorry that we had to take you, Princess," Sango said, frowning. "But it's for the best, in the long run."

Kagome's eyes narrowed. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"No," Sango sighed and ran a hand through her long hair. "I suppose I don't… I only have Inuyasha's word and the tentative phrases from the King's Prophecy that I know of… but… I feel that you being here will only lead to good fortune."

"What do you mean?" Kagome marveled. "You know of the King's Prophecy?"

"Only snippets. My cards have brought me no answers as well," Sango said, and, to demonstrate to Kagome what she meant by the cards, she withdrew a pack of tarot cards. "I drew a card for you this morning. The Seven of Cups."

"What does that mean?" Kagome asked, despite herself and her resolution to remain angry at all the bandits for taking her away from the only happiness she'd ever known.

"It means that it is time for reflection and inner contemplation," Sango said quietly. Kagome frowned and looked away.

"I want to go home," Kagome said, and sounded like a little child. She didn't care. She'd make all the bandits' lives hard for them and make them sorry for ever considering holding her captive here. And she would unleash a personal vendetta upon Inuyasha and make him sorry he'd ever set foot in those stables as an imposter.

"I know you do, but—"

"I'll have you all thrown in prison for this, once Prince Hojo saves me," Kagome said stubbornly.

Sango gave her a deep look, void of any emotion Kagome could decipher. "If that is what you feel is best, deep within your heart, then the Seven of Cups is of no use to you."

She stepped to the front of the tent and brushed aside the canvas overhanging. She ducked out from underneath before poking her head back in and saying, almost sheepishly:

"You'll have to stay here. And trust me, if Inuyasha and his magic catch you trying to escape, you'll have to be more cunning than a fox…"

There seemed to be a deeper meaning in Sango's words but she couldn't, for the life of her, figure out what the tarot-reading outlaw meant. She left the tent and Kagome felt her anger boil over. She grabbed the blankets covering Sango's cot and threw it, then kicked at the cot itself. She hurt her bare toe and cursed the skies for her situation.

All she wanted was to go home. All she wanted was a friendly face.

---

Kagome tightened the belt around her waist, drawing the loose fitting tunic closer to her body. She felt a bit awkward wearing Sango's clothing, but her dress was useless now, and almost impossible to move around in.

She sat in Sango's tent, staring at the canvas ceiling and watching the shadows from trees moving around. She'd considered all morning running away, but she had no idea where she was and where to go. All she knew was that she was close to Hangleton, but that did her no good. And, wearing these clothes, she hardly looked like the royalty she was supposed to be.

She sighed wistfully, her dyspeptic exhale ruffling her black bangs. Her long black hair tumbled down her back and pooled on the ground, but she made no move to sweep the dirty hair away from the dirty floor.

"I've been in here for hours," she muttered to herself, dragging her finger along the rug covering the dirt floor and sighing again.

"You could make yourself useful, you know," Inuyasha said as he pushed aside the canvas and stepped inside Sango's tent.

Kagome jumped and stared at him in shock. "Where did you come from?"

"Outside," he said dryly as he moved towards the back of Sango's tent and retrieved a burlap sack. He jerked his head. "Get out here. We could use some help with laundry."

"Laundry? Aren't you bandits supposed to live in dirt?" Kagome asked, and refused to stand up. She had determined that she would remain angry at them until she was back in her beloved's arms. They would all pay, in the end. She had no attachment to these people, after all.

He came in and grasped her arm. She gasped and tried to tug her arm away, but his grip was firm. He hauled her to her feet and dragged her outside Sango's tent.

"Let me go!" she shrieked.

"No," he said.

"Why do I have to do laundry anyway? I'm a prisoner! Don't you have enough people in this little… society… to not need help from a princess?"

Inuyasha jerked her forward and stared at her hands—her worker's hands that no amount of soft soaps and clean water could wash away. "Princess?" he muttered, then gave her a dark smirk that she hated so much. "Of course."

He was mocking her, and that only made her angrier.

"Why all this work for one area?" Kagome asked. "Won't you be leaving soon?"

Why was she asking so many questions?

"If they actually listened to their leader," Inuyasha muttered darkly, "we wouldn't have to set up camp every flippin' day. We'd be traveling around and getting the hell out of here."

"Leader?" Kagome asked.

"Don't you know?" Rin asked as she passed by, holding a large basket of wet laundry to hang on the lines between caravans. "Inuyasha's the one true King of the Bandits."

Inuyasha snorted. "This isn't what I should be king of."

"Yes, yes, we know, Inuyasha, my friend," Miroku said as he followed behind Rin, firewood tucked beneath his arm. "Dinner will be ready soon. Ayame is finishing up."

"You," Inuyasha said, turning to Kagome and pointing a finger at her, "Go hang laundry."

"I'm a princess, I shouldn't have to do this," Kagome said, thinking that she could cheerfully strangle Inuyasha and his bossy, kingly attitude. He rolled his eyes and made a shooing motion with his hand, which only fueled Kagome's anger.

"While you're here, _princess,_" Inuyasha said bitterly,"You're a prisoner. Get used to it."

Kagome huffed and crossed her arms. "I refuse."

His eyes narrowed and his dark milky eye glowed for half a second before his black bangs fell in front of it and hid it from view. His one seeing eye stared down at her, the black pupil dilating before he flared his nostrils and growled darkly.

"Do not force me to make you," he hissed.

"Your magic is weak," she accused, though she truly had no idea whether or not he was truly a powerful sorcerer or a pitiful magician. He almost looked taller the angrier he got. "Your silencing spell barely lasted long enough."

He smirked. "You underestimate the power of magic, Princess. Who are you to say that I use all my reserves for your pitiful being?"

"Why you…" Kagome trailed off, but sounded far less confident now. Why did he have that effect on her?

"Rin!" Inuyasha barked, turning his head. The said girl turned and looked towards where the bandit leader was calling her before trotting over to his side. He shoved Kagome unceremoniously towards Rin and Kagome, possessing only one slipper to her name, stumbled over the clumsy earth and nearly fell into Rin's arms. "Take her away."

"Aye, aye!" she said with another small salute before leading Kagome, far more gently, away towards the clothesline she'd been standing at.

They stood in silence and Kagome moodily hung tunics and leggings.

"You'll get used to it," Rin said comfortably, giving her a small smile. "Inuyasha's really not that bad, I promise."

"Easy for you to say." She still nursed the idea of strangling him in his sleep.

"He's nice, you just gotta get to know him," Rin reassured, smiling cheerfully as she hung a large cloak on the clothesline. "And if you try to mess with him, he'll unleash his familiar on you."

"Familiar?" Kagome whispered, despite herself. "He has a… familiar?"

"Yes," Rin said with a nod. "He's young, like Inuyasha, but they work well together. They have similar energy patterns, as it's supposed to be with a sorcerer and his familiar."

"So he's a powerful wizard, then?"

Rin beamed. "He's saved us all a number of times."

Kagome doubted that Inuyasha was capable of saving his own neck, let alone an entire troop of outcasts and rejects of society. Looking around, Kagome could recognize a few known bandits from her area.

She did not understand how a young girl like Rin had come into the services of the Bandit King, but she didn't dare ask.

Kagome could only guess about the others.

As for Inuyasha… Kagome almost feared what he'd done to have himself banished from the Charmings' Kingdom.

---

The sun was setting in the distance and the food was good and gone. Kagome sat stubbornly outside the ring of fire as the bandit troop ate and talked with one another. She could see Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Kohaku, and Rin sitting in the blazing light of the fire. There was the cook, Ayame, that Kagome hadn't spoken to yet. There were other bandits, too, Kagome noted. She didn't know their names, but overall it was a rather small group of bandits. It hardly struck fear in her heart.

"We're leaving tonight," Inuyasha announced, speaking to the fire.

There were nods of consensus around the fire.

"Charming's troops will be on us in the morning if we stay here," Miroku agreed, and it occurred to Kagome that, in his four years of knowing Inuyasha yet never performing a crime, the ex-tutor had somehow weaseled his way to second-in-command. "Pack as quickly as you can. We must travel by moonlight."

There was a flurry of movement and Kagome watched them from her perch on a large rock in the middle of the camp. She crossed his arms defensively over her chest and scowled bitterly at the ground and watched the way the fire's shadows licked the ground.

"Move slower," she muttered. "Some of us want to be saved, you know."

"Oy, woman," Inuyasha called as he approached her, giving her a deep look. "Get up. We need to pack you away into the caravan."

"Excuse me!" Kagome cried out, kicking his hand away when he came too close. "I am not some cargo that needs to be _packed_ away into the caravan! I can walk just fine!"

"And risk having you run away?" Inuyasha laughed and grabbed her before she could protest. She squawked loudly as he carried her bridal-style towards the largest caravan. "Be obedient, you stupid woman, and maybe you won't be killed."

"You're a jerk," Kagome decided quietly as he tossed her unceremoniously into the back of the caravan. She landed on a soft pile of different carpets and all around her Kagome was surrounded by storage. Tents, furniture, stolen riches… Inuyasha probably had the entire world under the canvas covering.

"Just to be sure…" Inuyasha trailed off as he extracted a long piece of rope with a metal clamp at the end. Before Kagome could even think to protest, he'd secured the bracelet-like instrument around her wrists and was securing the twin at the end of the rope to the frame of the caravan.

"What?" Kagome screeched. "You don't need to tie me up like some _animal_!"

She felt like she was going to cry, but Inuyasha ignored her as he finished securing her to the caravan to prevent her escape—(which Kagome admitted she'd been thinking about)—and turned back to her with a dark smirk.

"Precautions, Princess, you understand," he said wickedly and shrugged his shoulders.

Kagome started struggling, but just as she showed signs of doing so, Inuyasha had mounted the caravan and was kneeling before her. He had a soft look in his golden eyes and it was strangely comforting. He held out a hand and touched her forehead and she felt an instant calm rush over her.

She realized, vaguely, what he'd done. "Magic…"

"Indeed," he agreed, giving her an indescribable look. "Just to make sure you don't hurt yourself."

"Don't sound like you care about me," she murmured. Her eyes were half-drooped, and, even know she knew he'd performed some spell on her she couldn't summon up enough strength to protest when he ran his hand down her cheek, sending another wave of calm through her.

He dug through the walls of storage before extracting a soft sack—something that she supposed was supposed to be a makeshift pillow before plumping it behind her head. He threw a scratchy, uncomfortable blanket over her prone body. She felt too sleepy to protest his fake kindness.

"Here," Inuyasha said snidely, withdrawing a slipper from inside his cloak. It was her dirty, muddy one she'd lost while trying to escape to her old manor home. He examined it a moment. "You don't any other shoes right now, so it's best that you wear both of them."

He grabbed her ankle before she could protest and jammed the dirty slipper onto her small foot. His powerful, and slightly painful, grip on her leg lessened until it was gone completely and the bandit leader was standing up.

"Thank you," Kagome whispered, staring at her two feet, one with a very dirty slipper. "Why did you wait so long to give it to me, anyway?"

"I figured you'd be less inclined to run away if you didn't have proper footwear," Inuyasha said. "Princesses, after all, have very soft skin."

She could hear the threat in his voice. He knew that she wasn't a princess, and he probably had for sometime, but Kagome was not about to admit it to him and give him the satisfaction of knowing that he'd guessed correctly about her, especially when she knew nothing about him.

"You sure know how to treat a lady," Kagome said snidely. She sounded more amused than snidely, however, because of Inuyasha's blasted magic.

He grunted and gave her a dark smirk. "You're not a lady. You're a little girl."

Kagome frowned. "Excuse me, but I'm not much younger than you are!"

He continued to smirk at her and leaned in closer, locking blue eyes with his golden eyes. His blind eye was a bit unnerving, but Kagome, out of sheer stubbornness, refused to lower her gaze.

"How old are you, then?" Inuyasha whispered.

"Seventeen summers," Kagome said patiently, though she eyed him nervously, unsure what to make of the sudden question. Well, obviously he wanted to compare ages, but still, the way he'd asked it. "I'll be eighteen by the fall."

His eyes flickered and swirled with unknown emotions and Kagome was unsure what to make of the look that crossed over Inuyasha's face. "Then there's not much time, is there?"

"What are you talking about?"

"_One the dawn of the eighteenth summer_," Inuyasha whispered and his eyes continued to glow and swirl. "_She shall rise from the ashes._"

"Ashes?" Kagome asked skeptically.

Still smirking, Inuyasha straightened and backed out of her caravan, dropping to the ground evenly. Kagome's eyelids felt heavy. "Sleep well, Princess."


	7. Chapter Six

**Open Your Eyes  
Chapter Six**

---

"Good morning," a small voice murmured. Kagome blinked her eyes open and shifted uncomfortably as she tried to move her arms. Then she remembered they were locked behind her back and she was stuck in a moving caravan moving towards someplace farer away than she'd ever been.

Kagome lifted her head and looked to see Rin poking her head in, moving along with the caravan as the horses pulled it at a steady pace. Kagome's mouth felt too dry to speak, but she didn't think she would say anything friendly to her captors. She hadn't felt that tying her up was very necessary and so far she just felt scared, alone, and mistreated.

Rin seemed to understand Kagome's inner musings because she gave a sad, little smile. "I'm sorry it has to be like this, Princess."

"Then let me go," Kagome commanded, trying to sound as frightening as she could, but knowing that her voice was weak and watery, and she sounded like she were about to cry at any moment.

Rin's smile grew sadder and she set down a tray of food on the rugs before Kagome. "I'm sorry. I can't."

Kagome stared at the food skeptically, her eyebrows narrowing. Rin, still smiling sadly, gestured towards the food. It steamed innocently enough on the tray. A bowl full of porridge and a glass of dirty water.

"Please eat," Rin urged, and suddenly she was gone and Kagome was looking at the gauze covering of the caravan. It was only after Rin had left that Kagome realized that she couldn't eat as long as her hands were tied up. Of course, she could eat it like an animal, but Kagome had a sinking feeling that was what Inuyasha wanted her to do.

She did feel tears in her eyes now and she ducked down, letting her hair spill over to hide her face from anyone who decided they wanted to check in on the princess. What had she done to earn such cruel treatment?

It seemed that the magnitude of her situation seemed to slam into her at that moment. She felt tears slip from behind her tightly shut eyelids and Kagome couldn't stop. She wanted to stop. She didn't want to be weak, but she couldn't stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks. She sniffled and clenched her hands behind her back, wishing she were free.

Her shoulders shook as every grievance in the past few days slammed into her. Her friendship with Inuyasha meaning nothing, her kidnapping, his cruelty towards her, her stepmother and her own inability to stand up against her, Miroku's betrayal, Sango's veiled words, Rin delivering food without unlocking her hands, being shoved into a caravan like an animal…

She wept. She wept for everything she lost and everything she'd gained.

Why hadn't Hojo come yet? Why hadn't Hojo saved her like he was supposed to?

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, her head bowed in shame and her shoulders shaking miserably. It was hard for her to tell time when the only indication that it was daylight was the filtered sun dancing between the wisps of curtain covering the opening of the caravan.

She felt a soft material brush by her cheek and she stilled instantly. Someone had walked in on her, she was sure of it. Lifting her hand and shamefully wiping her tears away by rubbing her cheek against her shoulder, but unable to stop her hiccups and sobs, Kagome lifted her head.

No one was there.

Kagome stared around her, but no one was standing in the caravan and no one was hiding behind the piles of storage she'd been crammed into with. Kagome sniffled again, feeling a bit on edge. She'd been sure that someone was there. Her stomach growled, and for a brief moment Kagome was distracted.

No one was going to come and unlock her hands, and she had food right in front of her. Her eyebrows lowered in frustration. She was hungry, and she didn't know when her next meal would come. She had to eat it before they took it away from her.

She scooted over towards the food and ducked her head. Her hair breezed over the bowl of mush, and she quickly shook her head, banishing the long strands of black. She ducked her head and ate from the bowl, feeling her shame increase tenfold. She had once had pride.

"What are you doing?"

This time there was no mistake that someone was there. She jerked her head up and Inuyasha was standing there, walking along with the caravan and his head poking into through the curtain, much like Rin had.

Kagome looked away, feeling her shame triple on top of her already increased shame. She ducked her head, trying to hide her tears from him. She would not let the magician see neither her tears nor her humiliation.

"Rin didn't unlock you?" he hissed and he jumped nimbly into the caravan. Kagome scooted away, refusing to look at him or speak to him. She was angry at him and herself. "That stupid girl."

He grabbed her shoulder and jerked her around. She let him and didn't fight against it. She felt his long fingers sliding over her skin as he undid her bindings. Kagome felt her heartbeat speed up, but wasn't sure why. After what felt like an eternity, her hands were free and Inuyasha wasn't touching her anymore.

Kagome stared at him out of the corner of her eye and hesitantly reached out, grabbing the spoon. Moving back towards her food, she picked up her bowl and began to eat. She ate slowly, not wanting to give Inuyasha more leeway for her disgrace. She wasn't sure what he was capable of.

He sat back, leaning against the wall, and gave her a long, calculating look. She still wouldn't look at him.

"You have oatmeal on your face," he murmured quietly and Kagome froze, giving him a bewildered look. He lifted his hand and brushed his thumb over his own left cheek, near the side of his lips, and Kagome mimicked the action, pulling away some porridge. "It's gone."

"Thanks," she muttered darkly, and didn't sound the least bit thankful for his gesture. He shrugged his shoulders and said nothing in return.

She took a sip of the dirty water and realized how thirsty she was. She gulped it down quickly and sighed in relief when the cup was empty.

She finally dared to look at him, almost expecting him to stand up and tie her off again now that her food was gone. Instead, he continued sitting and giving her a long look. She quickly darted her eyes away and settled back on the opposite wall, leaning against it. If he was just going to stare at her all day, she might as well get comfortable.

"Where are we headed?" she asked hesitantly, wishing to start a conversation.

He tilted his head to the side and looked out through a small crack in the curtain covering the princess from view. "We're headed towards the ocean."

"What's there?" Kagome marveled, looking surprised.

"Well, ocean, obviously," Inuyasha said, with an amused smirk. Kagome huffed and her cheeks turned red.

"I'm not stupid. I've just… never been to the ocean before," Kagome confessed. She'd read about it in story books and seen paintings of it, but she'd never seen the ocean in real life. She'd never seen anything beyond her hometown.

"It's not that wonderful," he confessed with a small shrug. He ran his fingers through his hair and said nothing for a long moment. Then, he sighed. "It's just… large… and empty."

Kagome tilted her head to the side and licked her dry lips. "There are other lands on the other side."

"And they hold nothing of worth," Inuyasha said.

They fell into an uncomfortable silence. Words hung heavily in Kagome's throat but she could not summon up the courage and force to speak to him again. He sat, regally, as if he truly were a powerful king, and not just a leader of rag-tag bandits. He slouched a bit, his arms draped over his knees, and he was still giving her that strange look.

Kagome clenched her hands together and swallowed thickly before daring to speak.

"You're not going to lock me up again?" Kagome whispered.

"No," he said, and he refused to look at her. He watched the way the curtains wavered in the wind. "No human being deserves to be locked up."

So, he had seen her tears and her embarrassment. Kagome wasn't surprised. She was surprised, however, that her display had won him over. She never would have thought that tears could stop Inuyasha in his tracks.

Inuyasha had a heart, buried underneath that rough exterior and ideas of kidnapping. Kagome wondered what he was really like, if he could manage to hide this all away from her. But, in the end, he had nothing he needed to reveal to her in the first place. She, to him, was simply a matter of pride and a key to his dreams.

"No one should be locked up," he repeated, as if a realization was dawning on him.

He clenched his eyes shut and his fists tightened and Kagome realized that he'd reached the threshold of a bitter memory. Her eyes widened and she quickly scooted over, reaching out a hand and touching his arm. The barest of touches, but it seemed to snap Inuyasha out of the hole he'd fallen into. He gave her an indescribable look.

"What happened…?" she asked quietly. Something had happened. Had he been locked up, too? She hesitantly took her hand away when she realized she'd been letting it linger there.

His eyes wavered. "Nothing."

"Inuyasha…"

There was a long pause, in which Kagome stared into his eyes and tried to look as demanding as possible. His seeing eye flickered between her two eyes while the other one followed dully, seeing nothing in front of him.

She offered him a tentative smile, feeling her curiosity increase tenfold with every moment that passed by in silence.

"I did not find glory," he said inaudibly. "It was all… a delusion."

"What are…?" she trialed off and brushed her black hair behind her ear, unable to think of a proper way to address the strange, unreachable past that reflected in Inuyasha's eyes. He glanced at her before shifting and kicking his legs out.

"It doesn't matter, Princess," he said, and his voice was soft and far away. His eyes didn't focus on anything truly in front of him. He was staring off into the distance of a memory tarnished and drifting. "I was delusional."

"You…"

"I was searching for something real, something that I could have," he said and reached out his hand, as if trying to reach for that tangible thing again. His hand fisted air. "But I need to work harder. I was weak then. I will not make the same mistake twice. The prophecy will come to pass."

"What is the prophecy?" Kagome murmured. Inuyasha was acting so incredibly strange. She'd never seen him like this before.

Inuyasha's golden eyes stared off to his right. His blind, milky eye glittered mysteriously, as if it were the center of his magic. He seemed to be thinking of her question, deciding whether or not he should tell her.

"If I am the key… I think… I should know…" Kagome ventured.

He shifted and crawled towards her. She gulped as he reached out a hand and pulled her black hair towards him. He ran his thumb over the silky material before releasing it with a sigh, looking almost disappointed. His one seeing eye gazed into her blue orbs and she knew she was petrified to the spot.

Then, slowly, he began to mutter:

"_On the dawn of the eighteenth summer,_

_She shall rise from her ashes _

_The most beautiful woman of her world _

_And_

_The trodden peasant shall unleash her power_

_Granting the impossible dream."_

She stared at him, unsure what to make of the perfectly recited words. His eyes fell shut and it almost sounded as if his voice were not his own. He was drifting between reality and the strange expanse inside his head.

There was something that he wasn't telling her, even as he recited the prophecy to her. Why was he telling her, after his determination to never let her hear it? What was going on?

Kagome realized, in that moment, that Inuyasha was a truly mysterious man.

"_Perpetual and unassailable your kingdom shall be_

_When her jeweled life is ripped away_

_And _

_Her mask will melt away and reveal that _

_Her inscrutable state of being, regally,_

_Cannot hide away her filthy blood."_

"How does that affect you?" Kagome marveled after she was sure he was not continuing. The prophecy seemed incomplete. "How does this affect me?"

He opened his eyes and the strange look he'd harbored seemed to melt away instantly. He sat up a bit straighter. He tilted his head to the side, studying her.

"What?" she whispered, fearful.

"There is more," he confessed.

"What?"

"I won't tell you," he said, a small thread of determination melting back into his soft, distant voice. He looked so different. The Inuyasha before her was nothing like the one she'd grown used to. "Because even I do not know it."

"I don't understand."

"Why don't you?" he asked.

"The prophecy… has nothing to do with us," Kagome said, determined to reassure herself, more than to convince the bandit king.

"The prophecy was conceived the day that the current king, Hojo's father," Inuyasha spat out the word, as if it were an acidulous taste in his mouth, "was born. The former king, Hojo's mother's father, received the prophecy as a warning. There is a third verse."

"You do not know it?"

"By the time Hojo's father was old enough to understand the warning, he had it destroyed. Only the inner workings of the royal family know of its contents," Inuyasha whispered. "I do not know exactly what it entails. But I know that it involves me."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I have been wronged many times in the past, Kagome," he spoke and it took Kagome a long moment to realize that he'd just addressed her by name and not by her title. Her heart swelled in her chest. She banished the giddy feeling in her heart, knowing that such a feeling would reappear once Hojo referred to her by name. "They will pay for what they've done to me."

His milky eye seemed to glow darker. Kagome's eyes narrowed in concentration.

"And this prophecy involves me?" Kagome asked after a long moment of staring into Inuyasha's eyes. She did not like how comfortable she felt around him. She scooted away and leaned against the wall, tilting her head up toward the ceiling of the caravan.

"Yes," Inuyasha said.

"How?" Kagome had a sick feeling that she already knew the answer.

"You are the most beautiful girl in the world, in the eyes of the royal family," Inuyasha said, hastily adding the last part.

"So, this prophecy is about me?"

"They have made it about you," Inuyasha supplied. "They could have picked any beautiful girl in the world. But, instead, they chose you. They have set the groundwork for the prophecy. The prophecy is in motion. They could have ignored it completely and they would be fine. But they're trying to fool even God himself."

"What do you mean?" Kagome questioned, her eyes wide.

"That is something that you needn't know, Princess," Inuyasha said with a shrug.

"So you won't tell me, then?"

"Just know that you are of great importance for the future of the royal family, and not because you will one day be queen." His eyes were dark and they swirled with his hidden emotions. Kagome swallowed thickly. "_If_ you become queen. Who is to say you will survive?"

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked, wondering if Inuyasha, after all, was planning on killing her.

"Nothing," he said mysteriously and Kagome knew that he would not answer her question.

"They knew that I would be coming, then?" Kagome decided to change the subject back to the prophecy and issue at hand.

"Not you, specifically. The prophecy is vague. It does not give names or dates, save for the 'eighteenth summer.' They have interpreted that as the one to assist the royal family will be eighteen years of age. But, it didn't have to be you. There are thousands of young women who are beautiful."

"Yes," Kagome said sadly. She did not like to think that she was only chosen for her beauty, and not because Hojo loved her. It had been love at first sight. She and Hojo were meant to be. Maybe she was needed for the prophecy, but, in the end, he loved her. Kagome knew it.

"I'm sorry," he said, and Kagome was shocked to hear some sincerity in his voice. It was so unlike him, and she barely knew him. She knew that he was not the type to offer and apology.

"What for?" Kagome asked, but accepted the proffered apology.

He shrugged. "For being dragged into this." He looked nonchalant. "You… no one deserves this."

"Then why do you do this?"

"It's important that I hold on to you. You are going to give me what I want."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I have two psychics in my possession," Inuyasha said matter-of-factly. "They may not be the best, and they may not be very descriptive in what they tell me, but they do tell me what's what. And you, darling Princess, will help me in the near future."

"I'm not a princess," Kagome said suddenly.

He titled his head to the side and gave her a satisfied look. "Oh?"

"I am a commoner," she confessed before she could stop herself. As soon as the words left her lips she was agitated that she'd allowed him to dictate her in such a way. She'd promised herself that she would not confess such things to him and give him such satisfaction. His eyes glowed and he smirked.

"I know."

"Well, I knew you knew," Kagome huffed and looked away from him.

He grabbed her hands and she squeaked in surprise as he turned them over, inspecting her palms. His thumb ran over the calluses she'd earned from years of servitude with her stepmother.

"No princess would have such hands," he said calmly as he inspected her hands. "That manor was your home. That woman was your mother."

"My stepmother," Kagome corrected, gently taking her hands back and cradling them against her chest. "My mother was kind and gentle."

He looked distant again. "Yes. I'm sure she was."

Kagome looked down at her hands, inspecting the rough spots of skin. "Why does it matter if I am a peasant or not?"

"Hojo sealed your fate," Inuyasha said instead of answering. Kagome, miffed, gave him a huffy look and clenched her fists. He shrugged his shoulders and then, suddenly, he was closer to her, and pushing her to the ground.

"Stop it," she commanded, pushing against his chest. He wouldn't budge.

"Give up on Hojo," he whispered and his breath was hot against her face. She swallowed thickly. His eyes looked desperate, desperate for her to understand something Kagome couldn't even begin to comprehend. "Trust me. It's better to let him go."

"I can't…" Kagome whispered and her heart throbbed. She told herself it was because of Hojo, not because of the close proximity with Inuyasha. "I love him."

Instantly his eyes darkened and he glared angrily at her. "What do you know of love?"

His hissed out the words so darkly that Kagome couldn't bring herself to snap back at him, as she often would. Her entire body quaked beneath him and she shifted uncomfortably.

"I love him," she said again, sounding far less determined.

"Do you?" he whispered quietly, and his eyes flashed dangerously. Kagome felt her entire body tense up. "And, pray tell, does he love you back?"

"Yes," she murmured defiantly.

"Does he know anything about you?"

"I'm sure he does," Kagome said. "He loves me. We love each other. He's going to marry me."

"Do you know anything about him?" Inuyasha shot back.

"I know that he's…" Kagome trailed off, trying to summon up the things she knew of Prince Hojo. She knew he was a prince. She knew he was the eldest of the two sons. She knew that he had soft eyes and sandy hair. "I know that…"

But her hesitation was answer enough for Inuyasha. He gave her a triumphant look and Kagome's eyes narrowed. "What makes you think that he'd know anything about you, then?"

Kagome's eyes widened and she stared at him. Then, her eyebrows slanted downward and she gave him the darkest look she could muster.

"You don't know anything."

"I know a lot more than you give me credit for," Inuyasha shot back.

Kagome didn't answer him.

"Would you die for him?" he murmured quietly and his breath breezed over her cheek. Kagome's body shook.

"I… I would…" Why was her voice shaking at a time like this? There was no doubt in Kagome's mind; she loved him.

Something was bubbling inexplicitly under her skin. She felt it pulsing and wasn't sure what to make of the strange sensations. Her heart throbbed painfully and she wished she could grab it and heal it. Her entire body felt weak and sick.

She felt like she were dying, and she felt the pressure behind her eyes that she knew could only mean tears. But why would she be crying?

"Tell me, Princess," he said quietly. "Would he die for _you_?"

Before Kagome could stop herself, she felt tears spilling down her cheeks. Her eyes filled with salty liquid and cascaded down her face. She couldn't stop it. She did not sob. She did not cry out. Why was she crying?

She couldn't tell the reason for why she cried. It just happened. That strange bubble of emotion popped and she felt like the weight of the world was crushing her. No one was here to save her. All she had was a bandit king.

He looked shocked for one brief second. "Do not cry," he commanded. He reached out a hand and touched her forehead. He reiterated, softer this time, "Do not cry."

A soothing motion swept through her and she turned her face away, hiding away her ignominy, even as her tears dried up with his magic. They were quiet for a long time, feeling every bump on the road as the caravan moved down towards the ocean, miles and miles away.

He pulled away from her, staring down at her flushed cheeks and her red eyes. He had the grace to look ashamed for half a second before he rolled up his sleeves and cracked his knuckles. His hands were large and dirty, far more callused than her palms were.

"I must leave now," he told her, but they both knew that Kagome was not disappointed to see him go.

"You confuse me," Kagome confessed. "You are strange and mysterious."

His eyes glowed. "That is who I am."

"Is it?" Kagome questioned and shrugged her shoulders, looking away and closing her eyes, wishing she could fall asleep and wake up only when Hojo appeared to save her.

"Goodbye, then," he said.

"You're just going to leave me unprotected? Just like that?" Kagome asked, bewildered. She opened her eyes and gave him a strange look.

"Don't be ridiculous, Princess," Inuyasha murmured, returning to her honorific. Kagome frowned. Why did he call her princess if they both knew that she was a commoner? He waved his hand in a sweeping manner Kagome recognized as the beginnings of a spell. "I leave you under the most fabulous of protection."

And, suddenly, with his hand cupped upwards, a huge burst of blue fire leapt from his skin. Kagome screeched in surprise and reeled backward as the fire curled and smoked upwards, while remaining calmly in Inuyasha's hand. The said wizard didn't even blink, as if it were a common occurrence for fire to burst from his hand.

Kagome, with her heart pounding, watched as the fire receded and all that remained was a large black blob that looked like a shadow without a castor. It quivered in Inuyasha's hand before slowly oozing from his palm and onto the floor.

"Wake up," Inuyasha commanded and his voice sounded far fiercer than she'd ever seen it before. The black mass of shadow quivered again and began to move—to crawl—slowly along the rug and up Inuyasha's body.

Something in the black blob shuttered and a small green orb appeared in the shadowy mass. It took Kagome a moment to realize that an emerald green eye was staring at her in the middle of that black blob.

The shadow filtered behind Inuyasha's head and she heard a distinct pop and the smell of fire and smoke. Kagome's mouth went dry as, a moment later, a small red head popped up. A fox.

"I leave you with my familiar," Inuyasha said calmly as he lifted his hand and plucked the hiding creature from behind his back. He set the tiny fox down and it made a small noise before curling up against Inuyasha's hand. "Stop that."

"Your familiar is a fox?" Kagome murmured as she saw the tiny thing roll around on the ground.

"It's a kit," Inuyasha said, frowning. "He's young."

"A young familiar for a young sorcerer," a new voice supplied and Kagome realized that the fox was speaking. She squeaked in surprise. With a loud pop, there was another burst of fire—much shorter this time around—only to reveal a small boy.

He didn't look anything like a fox, now that he was in a human form. But Kagome could see his pointed ears and teeth, and the bushy tail. She stared at Inuyasha's familiar in shock.

"I didn't know familiars could take human form," Kagome marveled.

"Shippou will watch over you," Inuyasha said, standing, no longer indulging Kagome's questions. He dusted himself off and gave Shippou a look. "Alert me if she leaves."

"I'm not going to run away," Kagome huffed. "My prince will come."

"Of course he will," Inuyasha's eyes flashed dangerously and Kagome didn't say anything more on Hojo Charming.


	8. Chapter Seven

**Open Your Eyes  
Chapter Seven**

---

Kagome watched the sway of the curtain distantly, wishing Inuyasha would come back. She didn't like to think of the reason why. She felt a bit unnerved in the presence of his familiar, even if he was a mere boy. She swallowed thickly and banished these thoughts away. If she just ignored him, then her wish to have conversation with Inuyasha and her wish to be away from the fox would all disappear. Hojo would save her soon.

"You can relax," the small child stated quietly and the girl jumped, turning her attention towards him. So much for ignoring the fox child. The little boy named Shippou was playing with some toys, ones that Kagome hadn't realized were there. They must have been tucked away in the mountains of supplies.

A strange silence fell between the fox and the princess. Kagome, frowning thoughtfully, couldn't begin to comprehend why Inuyasha's familiar was such a sweet looking little boy. She cleared her throat and the boy blinked and looked at her innocently before giving her a tiny smile and returning to the toys he'd been playing with.

"What was your name?" Kagome asked, feeling a bit foolish for wanting to speak with a mystical creature. She couldn't help it. Ignoring it wasn't helping, so she might as well try to strike up a conversation. She craved conversation. Once again she mourned Inuyasha's absence. But only for a moment.

"Shippou," the fox child replied evenly, then gave her another sweetly innocent smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess Kagome."

"I guess everyone knows my name, then," Kagome said with a sigh.

Shippou continued to smile, and the sweet grin was bordering on devious. "I knew you were coming, Princess."

Such a strange thing to say. He was still smiling.

"You did?" Kagome silently congratulated herself on looking placid and nonchalant about such a statement. Inside, her insides were reeling. What did this child mean?

"Yes!" The small child seemed extremely excited. "I saw you."

"Saw me? I'm sorry… but I am not quite sure what you mean," Kagome confessed, her curiosity rising.

Shippou continued to smile brightly, and his green eyes were swirling happily.

"I _saw_," Shippou said, stressing the word. A small light of understanding sparked in Kagome's deep blue eyes.

"Oh… you're…"

A seer? She didn't finish her statement, but the point was well understood between the two residents of the caravan.

"Yes," Shippou chirped. "I can see the future sometimes. I saw you coming and I told Inuyasha. He didn't believe me." Shippou ducked his head and hit two of his toys together. "I sure showed him."

"Why didn't he believe you?" Kagome asked. If Shippou was his familiar, shouldn't he have all his faith in the little boy?

Shippou hummed in thought, still tapping his two toys together—one looked like a dog and the other a horse—and screwing his eyebrows together in deep concentration. Under any other circumstances, Kagome would have found the little fox-child to be quite adorable.

"It's because," Shippou said after a pregnant pause, "of the conditions in which your destinies intertwine."

Kagome took a moment to comprehend his words—for she'd never heard a child speak so eloquently before. She swallowed a lump in her throat that didn't seem to want to leave. And, for an inexplicable reason, Kagome found herself shaking.

"The prophecy?" Kagome whispered despite herself.

Shippou gave her a deep look. "Oh… Princess… it goes far deeper than that."

A strange, heavy silence danced between the two, and Kagome felt increasingly nervous. She swallowed thickly again, feeling a pounding sensation in her head. She couldn't describe the feelings rolling through her, and she felt that a change of subject was at hand.

"You seem very close with Inuyasha," Kagome said slowly, giving Shippou what she hoped was a soft smile.

"Yes!" Shippou beamed proudly, his green eyes glowing. If he noticed the sudden shift in conversation, the little boy said nothing. "I've been with Inuyasha since he first became a wizard. Gaining a familiar is the first spell you perform after you awaken to your magic. I've been with Inuyasha for years."

"Wow…" Kagome was genuinely interested in learning about Inuyasha's history and his magical properties. But she had a purpose for bringing this up. "Then you must know about the prophecy, right?" Kagome asked quietly. She needed to know the third verse of that prophecy. How did this all play back to her? "All of it?"

Shippou, however, knew nothing of her intentions. "Yes! I do!"

"Can you tell me, then?" Kagome urged. Her body was shaking. Her eyes were wide. Her heart was pounding so painfully that she couldn't stand it.

Shippou looked about ready to tell her before his green eyes flared open and he looked bewildered and frightened for half a second. He clamped his mouth shut and pressed his two tiny hands against his mouth in alarm.

"Eep!" he squeaked before any valuable words could leak out.

'_Darn,'_ Kagome thought when she realized that the little fox had no intention of telling her about the prophecy, _'I almost had him, too.'_

"I'm sorry, Princess Kagome," the tiny child squeaked, still refusing to move his hands from his mouth, as if that were a capable safeguard against speaking, "but I am not allowed to tell you such things."

Kagome sighed. "It can't be helped."

---

It'd been days since she'd been able to walk farther than the shadow of the caravan. She was growing restless, but Inuyasha either didn't notice or didn't care. Most of the time she wouldn't see him, for he would be outside leading the group towards their next destination. Sometimes, though, he'd give Shippou a chance to rest back into wherever Inuyasha summoned him from and he'd sit in the caravan with her for hours on end, just staring at her. Sometimes he'd indulge in her questions, if only to make her be quiet, but the majority of their time together was spent in silence.

"I'm very tired," Kagome offered.

"I see," Inuyasha returned, saying nothing more. His arms were draped lightly over his bent knees and he was still inspecting her like she was a prized jewel. Of course, she probably was. She was, after all, the supposed key to the supposed prophecy that she apparently wasn't allowed to know about.

"It would be nice to be able to walk and stretch my legs."

"Over my dead body," Inuyasha said stubbornly. He picked at a piece of dirt on his pants.

"Why are you so mean to me?" Kagome asked childishly, crossing her arms.

He smirked at her. "I have to keep the little princess from getting too pampered while here. You weren't born a princess, so stop acting like you are one."

"You weren't born a bandit, so stop acting like a jerk," Kagome shot back, knowing how lame her insult sounded but not really caring enough to think of something wittier. Inuyasha snorted, obviously finding nothing threatening about Kagome's glare. Not that she could blame him. He could kill her with a simple spell, she was sure.

"I can't let you go outside," Inuyasha said.

"And why not?"

"You could run away, for one thing," Inuyasha said, giving her a withered look.

"Like you couldn't catch me."

"If someone were to recognize you as the princess, there would be trouble for me and my men," Inuyasha paused and thought. "And I just want to piss you off a bit."

The smirk he sent her way only served to irritate her more. She huffed.

"You can't just lock me up in this caravan and only let me go out to go the bathroom," Kagome said defiantly. "It's just not fair. I'm not a caged bird."

"Do you want me to tie you up again or not?" Inuyasha growled.

"You wouldn't." Kagome gave him a wild look.

"Try me, Princess," he groused. He grumbled, "I wish that silencing spell was everlasting."

"Excuse me?" Kagome snapped, standing up and glaring down at him. He gave her a withered look and rolled his eyes, obviously finding her very unthreatening.

"Sit back down, Princess," Inuyasha warned, "you know you can't take me."

"I can try," Kagome shot back but flopped down, sitting next to him. He gave her a wary look but neither made to move away from the other. Kagome sighed.

"Don't be going for pity," Inuyasha warned. "Because tears don't work on me."

"Liar," Kagome muttered. She bet he was just a softy inside.

He grunted and closed his eyes, resting against the wall of supplies and enjoying every little bump in the road. For a brief moment he looked perfectly peaceful, but Kagome knew he was probably thinking of different ways to make her life miserable.

They sat in silence for a long moment and Kagome counted the number of times the curtain swished to the side and revealed rolling hills and blue sky. She wanted to walk outside with everyone else. Sometimes she could hear the bandits outside entertaining one another. Laughing. Playing. Having a good time.

She wanted to be out there, more than anything else.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked as she watched the way the curtain swayed. She didn't wait for him to reply. "Will you ever give me a chance to see the world out there?"

Silence ebbed and Kagome frowned. Fine, if he wanted to be rude and not answer her.

She shot her head around to snap at him but her eyes widened as she saw the bandit king with a lolling head. With every bump in the road his head would bob, but he wouldn't move. He was sleeping. Kagome couldn't help but smile, despite her current dislike for the mage.

"You're too tired if you can sleep here in front of me," Kagome said. "How do you know I won't poison you and run away?"

A thought struck Kagome and she looked towards the curtain. She could easily pass through it and walk among the bandits, and Inuyasha would be stuck in here taking a cat nap. It was perfect.

Sitting up a bit straighter, she made to move towards it, but a hand grabbed her wrist. She squeaked in surprise and turned towards Inuyasha, expecting an angry, tense face glaring at her.

Instead, she saw the same soft, boyish face lolling to the side. Kagome frowned and looked at the firm hand gripping her wrist tightly. She sighed in defeat in leaned against the pile of supplies. He'd won, even in his sleep. What a jerk.

She watched the hills beyond the curtain, whenever the wind pushed it aside, and dreamed of going out there.

Halfway through the afternoon Inuyasha's head fell on her shoulder and she had the common decency not to knock his head aside. She was just a nice person like that. Maybe if she was nice enough he'd let her outside for a minute.

"You should rest more if you can sleep so comfortably here," Kagome told him for the umpteenth time that day. Inuyasha didn't respond. He was sleeping.

Kagome sat glumly with Inuyasha's head on her shoulder, his breath breezing over her neck. She watched the sky beyond her and wished for freedom.

"Where is my prince?" she asked and Inuyasha snorted in his sleep.

---

She sat alone in the caravan. It'd been days since she'd seen the sun. Inuyasha hadn't come to see her. She figured that he was nursing his pride after waking up against Kagome. Not that she could blame him. He had looked quite childlike while sleeping, and she figured the leader of a group of bandits and a powerful magician would not wish to be seen as innocent in the eyes of his prisoner.

Kagome picked at the dirt on the floor of the caravan, feeling alone and bored. Shippou was sleeping in wherever it was he went when Inuyasha dismissed him. She wasn't sure how the dynamic of magician and familiar worked, but he wasn't here now and Kagome was feeling lonely.

She'd been talking with Shippou a lot and while she couldn't yet weasel anything about the prophecy out of the little fox, she couldn't deny that he was a sweet little child and excellent company when your only entertainment is the way the caravan bumps in the road.

"I wonder how far away the sea is," Kagome said to no one and frowned.

She rested her head against the ground, staring at the ceiling of the canvas-covered wagon. The curtain fluttered at her feet but she didn't move. She just wanted to sleep, but she wasn't tired. She wanted to eat, but she wasn't hungry. She wanted to drink, but she wasn't thirsty. She wanted to hate Inuyasha, but he…

She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"This is ridiculous," she told no one. "I just want to go home."

She rolled into a ball, feeling alone and neglected. She felt like crying, but knew that she'd cried far too much for her liking. She wanted to be saved. She wanted someone to come and save her.

"I just want to go home."

"Do not cry, Princess."

Kagome perked up and looked around. "Who's there?"

The small space in the caravan seemed to fill with a soft, warm light and Kagome felt like she was home again, wrapped in the warm arms of a parent. Kagome looked around, searching for the source.

Slowly, she became aware that something was forming in the center of the caravan. A bright, incandescent light seemed to spring from nowhere and Kagome's eyes widened as she recognized the flowing white robe and the soft aura.

"Midoriko!"

Her fairy godmother stood in the center of the caravan. She smiled warmly at her godchild and looked around the wagon.

"My, so this is where you've been," Midoriko spoke softly and shook her head. She turned towards Kagome. "Hello, child."

"I'm so glad that you're here!" Kagome said loudly, looking elated. "You can take me home! You're the answer to my prayers."

Midoriko smiled. "Am I?"

"You're here now, you can save me!" Kagome said desperately, touching her fairy godmother's robes. They flowed over her fingers like water. "You can take me away from here and bring me back to Prince Hojo!"

Midoriko smiled secretively, looking truly enigmatic. "You are young."

"What do you mean?" Kagome barked. "Take me back! Prince Hojo must be searching high and low for me. I don't want to worry him."

"He is searching for you," Midoriko agreed, still smiling that same mysterious smile.

"Fairy Godmother… please… I want to go home," Kagome begged. "Back to the prince."

"You are running away, child," Midoriko said instead of answering her plea. She touched the crown of Kagome's head and Kagome bowed her head, feeling shame roll off her in waves. She didn't want to run away. She just wanted to go home. "You mustn't be afraid, child," she spoke quietly, "you must move forward fearlessly."

"But I can't!" Kagome begged, gripping the woman's robes. "I want to leave this place!"

Midoriko looked sad for a moment before sighing. The caravan was filled with comfortable warmth. The fairy godmother searched through her long sleeves before extracting a small shard of glass attached to a string.

"What is that?" Kagome questioned.

"This is a guide, in my absence," Midoriko spoke lightly, her voice sounding like a thousand soft feathers. "So that your heart can speak when you do not listen."

"Oh," Kagome said, still not understanding what it was.

Midoriko must have sensed her confusion, for she continued to smile. "It is a crystal. Wear it around your neck." She waited until Kagome had it around her head and tucked beneath her clothing. "It will pulse and grow hot when your heart is screaming for something. When, deep in your heart, you know exactly what you want, it will let you know that is the right decision."

Kagome touched the crystal beneath her clothes. "I want to be with Prince Hojo."

The crystal didn't pulse. It remained a cold lump beneath her scratchy, borrowed clothing. Kagome frowned and looked up at Midoriko sadly.

"Your heart is in turmoil," Midoriko said, "and that is understandable. You are young. You have a huge responsibility on you shoulders. But do not fear, child, you are destined for greatness."

"The prophecy?" Kagome asked suddenly.

Midoriko laughed and her laughter was like tinkling bells. "Yes, the prophecy. You are included in two prophecies."

"You know the last verse of the prophecy?" Kagome asked eagerly.

"I do," the woman agreed, but spoke before Kagome could ask for it, "but I would be interfering with a very important future if I told you its contents. It is not my place. I can, however, tell you the prophecy witnessed at your birth."

"There was a prophet at my birth?" Kagome asked, amazed.

"Why yes, child," Midoriko laughed. "It was your mother."

Kagome's breath stilled. She did not remember her mother. She'd heard wonderful stories about her from her father, but she had never seen the woman herself. She licked her dry lips and sat up a bit straighter, staring at Midoriko desperately.

"My mother had a prophecy for me?" Kagome murmured.

Midoriko nodded her head secretively. Kagome's brow furrowed. Midoriko touched the girl's head again and Kagome felt calmed. "_My child is destined for greatness. She will fall in love with the bloodline's king. She will fight with twined blood and release a powerful prayer on her people."_

After Midoriko fell silent Kagome realized that she had a rather small prophecy. "I don't understand. Why is it so short?"

"It may be short, child, but the meaning is clear," Midoriko said softly.

Kagome didn't quite understand everything in the prophecy. "Well, I have fallen in love with Hojo, and he will be king soon."

"That is true," Midoriko agreed quietly.

"I'm not sure about the last part, though," Kagome confessed.

"All in good time, lovely," Midoriko reassured.

"I don't understand why you can't take me back to Hojo. Why you won't take me back? My prophecy clearly states that I fall in love with Hojo, which means I am destined to be with him. You're my fairy godmother, and therefore aren't you supposed to make my heart's deepest wish come true?"

"Your heart is still unaware, child," the fairy godmother whispered tenderly, her eyes warm and soft. Kagome felt a chill run through her. "You're searching for what is safe, but you are part of something incredibly dangerous. Your beating heart… your uneasy mind… you must remain what you are, Princess."

"I must remain… a princess?"

"No, child," Midoriko said, and her words were soft like a feather. "You must remain who you _are_. Your heart will not be unaware for much longer."

"You're not answering my questions," Kagome said, feeling rather angered over her stubbornly enigmatic godmother.

Midoriko, like any decent fairy godmother, recognized the girl's frustration and laughed her tinkling bell laugh again. She touched Kagome's shoulders and knelt down to the girl's level. Her silvery eyes glowed in the darkness of the caravan, and Kagome felt calmer than she had in years.

"All in good time," Midoriko vowed. "Until then, you must stop running away. Follow your heart. You will know when it is telling you the truth."

Kagome touched the crystal beneath her clothes. The princess frowned. "I want to be with Prince Hojo." The crystal felt cold. "It must be broken," she told her fairy godmother, "I know what I want."

"It works, lovely," Midoriko reassured.

Kagome's heart pounded and she felt tears collecting in her eyes. Why wouldn't the crystal work? It had to be broken. She knew what she wanted. She wanted to be with Prince Hojo, and that was that. There was nothing more about it except that she wanted to return to her home—her castle—and be with Hojo forever.

Midoriko saw her tears. "Do not cry, Princess," she murmured and waved her hand, summoning a small amount of magic. It blasted against Kagome and she felt her tears dry. Midoriko smiled. "That's better."

Kagome was about to speak when the curtain was suddenly jerked aside and Inuyasha hopped into the caravan, looking alarmed and staring at Midoriko.

"Who are you?" he demanded, looking fearful for half a second before he grew angry and glared at the intruder in his ring of bandits. Midoriko looked at him softly. "Who the fuck are you?"

"So you are the one," Midoriko spoke and stood up a bit taller, towering over Inuyasha—who was a pretty tall boy himself—and looking over him. Inuyasha's hands fisted and he stared at her angrily, his milky eye was trained solely on her and nothing else, which was a rarity because the blind eye was usually unable to focus on anything.

"Get away from the princess," he snapped and suddenly he was moving to stand in front of Kagome. The princess was happy for half a second before Inuyasha said, "she's my bounty, damn it. Don't you dare steal her away."

"You jerk!" Kagome raged.

"I am the Princess Kagome's fairy godmother," Midoriko said with a slight bow towards Inuyasha. "And you are Inuyasha, the son of Izayoi. You are the leader of the bandits, yes?"

Inuyasha tensed up and glared at Kagome for a second. "You never mentioned a fairy godmother, woman."

"I highly doubt you would have given a shred of interest even if I had," Kagome snapped back defiantly.

"You are the one," Midoriko said again and touched Inuyasha. The boy jerked away, but not before feeling the healing energy flowing from the crown of his head down to his toes. He snarled at her angrily. "Listen to your familiar, Inuyasha. He has never lied to you before now."

Inuyasha froze and his eyes widened. Midoriko smiled and slowly started to fade away.

"Fairy godmother!" Kagome called, reaching out her hand for the woman. The white being touched Kagome's hand and smiled warmly.

"Follow your heart," she warned. "Do not forget."

"I won't!" Kagome said, saddened to see the woman fading from view.

Midoriko turned towards Inuyasha, who still looked quite flabbergasted. "Listen to your familiar, Inuyasha. Listen to your soul."

Midoriko was gone.

Inuyasha stood stupidly in front of her for a long moment before he slowly rotated his head and gave her a dark look. Kagome inhaled sharply and swallowed. The young wizard's eyes narrowed and he turned fully around to face her.

"She was going to take you home," Inuyasha said matter-of-factly. "Wasn't she?"

"No!" Kagome shot back. "I wanted her to. But she wouldn't let me."

Kagome was grumpy about that fact. Weren't fairy godmothers supposed to grant her wishes? If so, why the heck was the woman leaving her in the care of this stupid bandit leader? She glared at him, as if it were all his fault (which it partially was) and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'll never forgive you," Kagome snapped.

"Never forgive me? For what?" Inuyasha barked.

"For taking me away from everything I've ever wanted! You've destroyed everything! I was completely happy and completely ready to get married and you just had to steal me away!"

"It's your own fault, you stupid woman. If you'd just left me alone in that stupid stable, you wouldn't be in this mess," he snapped back, his face turning red.

"You are such a liar!" Kagome screeched. "You would have stolen me anyway."

"Well, if you hadn't come down to the stables you would never have been 'friends' with me, and then maybe you'd be a bit more obedient and stay in the fucking caravan and be a good servile princess like you're supposed to be!"

"Well excuse me for having a will of my own!" Kagome shouted, feeling like she could very well punch him at any moment. Her face was heating up to an unnatural red color. "I'm not a worthless little princess who does nothing but cry, thank you very much!"

"I can't let you out of my sight, can I?" Inuyasha yelled back, his own face turning a strange red color, too. His golden eye was glaring at her darkly. "Fuck this. You're staying with me from now on."

"Let go of me!" Kagome demanded as Inuyasha grabbed her wrist and started pulling her towards the outside of the caravan. She couldn't even register she was finally getting her wish and going outside. No, she was going to kill Inuyasha when Prince Hojo got here.

"No!" he snapped back. "You're staying with me from now on, Princess. I can't keep you alone."

"You're such a jerk!" Kagome said firmly.

He smirked at her wickedly, which made him look positively cruel with that dark look in his eyes. "Live with it."


	9. Chapter Eight

**Open Your Eyes  
Chapter Eight**

---

"Princess, you are just as beautiful as the stories say," a bandit woman said as Kagome walked among them. The bandit women's skirts swirled around her like the softest silk, and they were all smiling. She never would have dreamed bandits could be happy. Children ran at her feet, dancing between their mothers'legs. Men worked hard pulling supplies and leading animals.

"Thank you," Kagome said modestly, ducking her head. She'd been called beautiful many times before, but for some reason hearing it from the women of the bandit group made her feel bashful.

"Such lovely hair," another woman admired. "It reflects the light."

"Please, you flatter me," Kagome said, feeling her cheeks turn red from embarrassment. "I don't deserve such treatment."

"You are too modest, Princess," a third woman Kagome recognized as Ayame reprimanded. "You should be proud of your beauty. It is unlike anything I've ever seen before. It is no wonder you are called the most beautiful woman of this world."

Kagome felt as if her cheeks would explode at any moment. For some reason, she felt as if their flattery was wasted on her. She was surrounded by beautiful women, women she would dare say were far superior to herself, yet they continually complimented her appearance.

After the incident with Midoriko, Inuyasha was wary to leave Kagome alone at any given moment. She'd been walking among the women for several days now and already Kagome's skin was darkening with the sun on her back, and freckles peppered her face. She had blisters on her feet from the clothing she had to borrow from the women, but her feet were hardening with every passing day.

She enjoyed walking among the bandits. She'd come to realize that they weren't as much as bandits as they were travelers. They were like gypsies, almost. They stole only when necessary, and they worked together as a unit, like one large, moving village. They all knew one another by name, and they all got along. Kagome was almost envious of their lifestyle.

Kagome felt particularly close to Sango and Rin. Sango was older and wiser than Kagome, and there was an air about her that reminded Kagome of Midoriko. Kagome almost regarded Sango as a mother figure. Rin, on the other hand, was boisterous and loud, much like a sister Kagome wished she had.

Kagome often went hours without seeing Inuyasha. Despite Kagome's sour opinion of the bandit king, the other bandits felt he was an exquisite leader. He stayed in the front and guided the troop before darting to the back and making sure the women and children weren't too exhausted. Inuyasha was haughty, but it seemed he only had displeasing things to say whenever Kagome was around.

Sango told Kagome that this was simply because she was the first female Inuyasha really spoke with who was not part of his 'family.' Kagome told Sango she didn't know what she was talking about and that Inuyasha was just a jerk who enjoyed her pain and misfortune.

In any case, the days seemed to pass slowly for Kagome, but she did not mind it. Already she felt stronger from walking in the baking sun. She knew the majority of the bandits by name now, and they knew her in turn. She felt almost at home with them, and only the reminder that Hojo was searching for her kept her tethered to the ground like an anchor.

"What is it like in the castle, Kagome?" Rin asked as she shoved her way past the three bandit women and strolled alongside Kagome. Children screeched behind them and the older women were distracted enough to go deal with their offspring.

"It's different from this," Kagome said, laughing.

The bandits were always asking her questions about her royal life. Kagome was happy to sedate their curiosity, but it had her longing for the day when Hojo would come back to her and bring her home.

They were wonderful people. Kagome couldn't understand why the bandits were excommunicated from the kingdom. She could understand that some of them were traitors and thieves, ex-patriots cast out from their contempt with the king, but Kagome couldn't possibly fathom how such genuinely kind people could be considered deserters of the throne.

There were no murderers among the bandits. There were some soldiers who'd abandoned the line of duty and were, thus, rejected to follow the life of an outcast. But Kagome could not comprehend why the king rejected them in the first place.

"It is because we were disloyal," one man said with sadness in his eyes when she asked. He held his wife close as the children danced behind them and said, "But that is not the case. We are loyal, but we were cast aside. Thankfully, Inuyasha took us in. He is a kind man."

"We betrayed the throne," another woman said as she hung up the soiled laundry her children left in their wake, "and were cast aside like human scum. But we are not ex-patriots, dear Princess, we are loyal."

Kagome puzzled over their words, and stories extremely similar, for hours at a time, trying to figure out what made them such traitors to the empire. But nothing came to mind, and Kagome feared it never would. It all boiled down to the bandits being loyal to Inuyasha, but that hardly constituted as a suitable reason to exile them, was it? Inuyasha wasn't that important to the king, was he? Otherwise, Kagome was certain she would have heard of him before this entire issue.

"Stop dawdling," Inuyasha commanded as he strode past, making his way back up towards the front. He was done with his daily inspection of the females and children.

Kagome narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over the scratchy tunic she was forced to wear. "I'm not dawdling; perhaps you're walking too quickly?"

"I don't walk too quickly, I walk at the pace we must," Inuyasha retorted. It seemed they were always fighting, but Inuyasha was annoying. It was a strange contrast to the servile benevolence she witnessed in the castle every day.

"Inuyasha," Sango commanded in that strange authoritative manner she always spoke in. Inuyasha silenced his banter with Kagome and turned his undivided attention towards the fortune teller. "I have consulted the cards as you instructed," she said without preamble. Inuyasha nodded and Sango continued, "It is as you said."

"What?" Kagome asked, but suspected her question would go unanswered.

She was correct, as both Inuyasha and Sango ignored her as they spoke.

"I drew The Devil," Sango said in a hushed voice. "Under normal circumstances, this card does not necessarily constitute evil doings or devilish nature, but I fear that is not the case this time. There is an aura."

"So it's true, then," Inuyasha said vaguely as he glanced over at Kagome, "…_they_ are…"

Kagome silently fumed, aware that Inuyasha and Sango were purposefully being vague in front of her. She felt, as the "key" of the prophecy, she had a certain right to know anything that involved her. Their apparent reluctance to say anything in front of her was proof that this involved her in some way.

"I drew the Emperor, as well," Sango said and the apparent weight of that statement passed between Inuyasha and Sango, as both frowned deeply at the information.

Kagome wished she knew something about tarot cards or what they were talking about. Instead, she silently glowered at Inuyasha and Sango.

"What else did you draw?" Inuyasha questioned and their pace slowed down as he gave her an intense look.

Sango was quiet for a very long moment, as if she were afraid to tell Inuyasha what she had seen. She swallowed and looked at Kagome. For one brief moment, the princess thought that perhaps the seer was trying to tell her something with her eyes.

She turned back to Inuyasha and said, "The Four of Cups. The Judgment. And The Star."

"What does this mean?" Inuyasha questioned.

Sango pursed her lips. "The things you discussed with Shippou. It will come to pass. It is already happening. There is nothing you can do to stop it, Inuyasha, and your constant denial of it will only lead to something undesirable."

"I can't let that happen," Inuyasha strained, and Kagome wasn't sure if he was talking about his denial or the thing he was denying. "It won't happen."

"It has already begun," Sango stressed.

"It won't," Inuyasha shot back. He glanced around and his eyes locked on Kagome's for half a second and his eyes narrowed. After a long pause, he murmured, "_They_ won't let it happen."

Kagome felt anger boiling within her. They were both being ambiguous on purpose. Her curiosity would never be satisfied, she feared, and she knew she would go insane with the strange opportunities and scenarios dancing in her mind. What was happening? What was going on?

Sango looked like she wanted to slap Inuyasha. "The Judgment never lies. Yet…" She paused and looked at the sun in the sky. "The Star is a positive sign."

"We're done," he snapped, obviously fed up with Sango's words.

Sango said nothing more but her agitation was evident.

He turned his attention towards Kagome and regarded her thoughtfully before turning back to the girls that surrounded Kagome. "Go to the back and make sure the children are okay," he commanded, "I need to talk to the princess alone."

Kagome watched her companions trail away warily and felt her frown deepen. She gave Inuyasha an indescribable look before walking along briskly with the pace of the traveling bandits. Inuyasha fell in step beside her and they walked in silence, their arms brushing against one another's accidentally before they quickly furthered the distance between themselves.

"Are you going to tell me anything?" Kagome finally questioned.

"I would if I thought it would benefit you in any way," Inuyasha said stubbornly. Something was on his mind, Kagome could tell by his tone. Kagome hated the fact that she could actually read the bandit king.

"I see," Kagome said tensely.

They walked in silence and Kagome watched birds drift between the trees surrounding them. As far as Kagome could tell, the Enchanted Forest wasn't very enchanting at all and just one big annoyance and opportunity for Inuyasha and his troop to hide from the royal army.

"How far until we get to the sea?" Kagome questioned when it became evident that Inuyasha actually _wasn't_ going to talk to her.

"The forest goes right until the shore," Inuyasha said conversationally. He looked at the sky, as if he could tell exactly where he was that way. His milky eye stared vaguely upwards. Kagome wondered how he'd received such a wound, and not for the first time. Inuyasha turned his attention back to the path they walked. "I'd say a couple more days. The rebellion will be waiting for us."

"What?" Kagome barked.

"There is a war going on, Princess," Inuyasha said lightly, "You know that. There is a rebellion growing against the kingdom and the king. They are gathering near the sea. We're heading there."

"You're joining a rebellion," Kagome said flatly.

"No," Inuyasha returned and his eyes flashed. "I am no follower."

He said it so seriously that Kagome was rather taken aback for a second before she cleared her throat and continued alongside Inuyasha. The bandit king stared tensely ahead, his eyebrows knitted together in frustration and his lips pursed tightly.

"We're going there to get supplies from the rebellion." His eyes glittered menacingly. "Then we shall return to the king's court."

"What?" Kagome gawked.

Inuyasha grinned at her wickedly and Kagome was taken aback, yet again, by the sheer amount of emotion dancing in his eyes. "I'm going to fulfill this prophecy."

"Wouldn't it be better if you just killed me?" Kagome yearned to know the answer, yet feared what she might hear from the insensitive man beside her.

"They would just find another one," Inuyasha said logically. "No, killing you would not be good."

"Huh," Kagome said with a frown. "I'm glad you take such importance in my life, then."

"The prophecy says that the key shall be the most beautiful woman of this world," Inuyasha said with a snort, "If I were to kill you, you would not be of this world anymore. They would find another one, and that would be such a hassle. After all, I already got you, and you seem rather attached to me."

"Excuse me?" Kagome hissed. "I am not attached to you."

"Oh?" Inuyasha asked, laughing cruelly. "I think that, deep inside, you find it hard to leave my sight."

"I could say the same thing about you. You _won't_ let me out of your sight. If I didn't know better, I'd say that you had a silly little crush on another man's woman," Kagome joked.

Inuyasha's eyes flashed and Kagome nearly tripped over her feet in alarm. He looked angered by her statement. As soon as Kagome witnessed that anger, however, it was gone and they were walking in silence again. He jerked his head away from her.

"You still consider yourself Hojo's, then?" Inuyasha asked with raised eyebrows, looking at something off to her far right.

"Yes," Kagome said with less conviction than she would have liked. "I am to be queen."

"Is that what motivates you, then?" Inuyasha whispered, and he sounded genuinely curious.

"No," Kagome said quickly, "I wouldn't care if Hojo were a peasant, a warrior, a king, or a bandit—"

"A bandit?" Inuyasha asked with raised eyebrows.

Kagome huffed up, looking like a disconcerted bird. "I wouldn't care what he was. All that matters is that I love him. That is all that matters to me. He is the one I love, and I will always love him."

"Oh," Inuyasha said, as if this were something she hadn't already told him when she'd repeated her love for Hojo numerous times throughout her imprisonment. He didn't sound like he believed her at all. "Of course. How forgetful of me."

"Why do you hate Hojo so much?" Kagome asked. "Why do you hate the entire royal family? What have they done to you?"

Inuyasha's froze and he came to a sudden halt, grasping her wrist and tugging her close to him. Kagome gasped in surprise, afraid for one wild moment that Inuyasha would hurt her. He stared at her angrily and she could see every emotion dancing in his eyes. There were always moments like these, when his movements were quick and fierce. Moments when he looked like a predator.

"How dare you ask me that?" he hissed. "As if you do not know."

"I don't!" Kagome gasped, her eyes wide. His grip tightened on her wrists and she turned her hands to grab his in return.

Her fingers felt hot and she felt her heart racing in her chest.

He stared at her, looking almost like a wild horse before some level of calm seemed to seep back into him and he breathed in sharply, his nostrils flaring. He ducked his head and he just stood there. The bandits had stopped moving around them, but kept their distance.

"We're stopping here," he shouted over his shoulder, his eyes shadowed by his bangs.

Behind them, Kagome could hear the bandits beginning to set up camp for a late lunch. Inuyasha stood there, awkwardly holding onto her.

"What did they do to you?" Kagome whispered.

"So many things," Inuyasha breathed and his hold on Kagome tightened again. "I will never forgive them. I will never forgive _him_ for what he did."

The sheer amount of pain in Inuyasha's voice nearly made Kagome's heart break. Inuyasha seemed to recall where he was because he stood up straight again and released his hold on Kagome, looking at her wildly.

He closed his eyes and bit his lip for a second before exhaling loudly. "They took everything away from me. They destroyed everything I've ever had and wanted. I have nothing now."

Kagome swallowed thickly.

"I have dedicated my life to vengeance," Inuyasha hissed and he gave Kagome an untamed look. "I will not let them live to repeat."

Kagome did not doubt those words. He looked so intense in that moment, Kagome had no doubts in her mind that Inuyasha would do everything in his power to fulfill his personal vendetta against those who had wronged him. What had happened to constitute that vendetta, however, was beyond Kagome.

"You'll kill them?" Kagome asked. She did not like that. She wondered why Inuyasha was being so open with her in the first place. It was unlike him.

He frowned at her. "Would you give up your life to protect them?"

Kagome wasn't one hundred percent sure who _they_ were, in the first place. She assumed the royal family.

"They have given me… everything that I've wanted," Kagome said at last. "Yet… If you're telling me the truth, they have taken away everything from you. And… and I do not want them to die. I want to try my best to help save you. If I can let them hear your side of the story…"

"Do you think that you will have a voice?" he hissed. "Do you think that you are anything more to them than a key?"

"I don't think that—"

"They _killed_ my family, Kagome," he hissed and Kagome was too taken aback to feel thrilled he'd called her by name. She stared at him in shock, not wanting to believe his words yet knowing they were true. "They did _nothing_ to the royal family and now they're _dead_."

Silence followed this statement, for Inuyasha had nothing more to say and Kagome could not summon the words to say to him. She did not know what to say to such a thing.

Kagome had spoken to the king only once, and had only seen the queen in passing. They were a regal and powerful family, and Kagome had always felt awed by their stature, as if they were gods on earth.

"D-dead?" Kagome stuttered out and wished she sounded stronger.

"Murdered. Tortured. Decimated." He betrayed no more emotion as he spoke. He'd already lost control of his emotions and did not want Kagome to see him any more vulnerable.

"I don't know… what to say," she admitted.

"There is nothing you can say that can bring them back to me," he said, and Kagome heard the genuine sadness in his voice. His eyes looked weary and haggard. "I was young. I could not protect them."

"But… what were their reasons?"

"Do they need one?" he raged.

"But… but surely there was some reason. I'm not trying to justify what they did, but surely it was… it was… surely there was a reason?"

Inuyasha's eyes flashed. "The King's Prophecy was made for me."

"Wha—huh?" Kagome stuttered. That hadn't been what she expected.

"The prophecy was made when Hojo's father was born, but it was made for me," Inuyasha said fiercely. "My mother told me before she… died… that it was my destiny to fulfill the prophecy." He added quietly, "and you will help me."

"How could your mother possibly know that?" Kagome marveled. She couldn't understand how a bandit's mother could think that her son would be responsible for a prophecy only the inner royal family was to know about.

"My mother was a powerful miko," Inuyasha said, as if that were reason enough. "She was a seer, too."

"Did you inherit her powers?" Kagome asked, wondering if it was her place to ask such a thing.

"I suppose I did," Inuyasha said with a thoughtful frown. "But magical ability is not inherited. It is learned. It is foreordained. Magic is not to be taken lightly, Princess."

"So… because the prophecy was made for you, they…" _killed your family?_

"That is one of the reasons for their passing. My family had something that the king wanted," Inuyasha hissed his eyes dancing angrily. "The kingdom is stained red with the blood the king has spilled, Kagome. It is a bloody world you have entered."

"Your mother knew the complete prophecy?" Kagome whispered, feeling her heart race.

"As do I," he agreed.

Kagome let this settle in, trying to make sense of all the information Inuyasha was suddenly bombarding her with. She wasn't sure what to make of the situation, and she was growing more and more restless.

"Wait!" Kagome felt her rage return full force. "_You_ told me you only knew the first two verses."

"And I lied," he said evenly, as if he lied to her every day. Kagome suspected that he probably did. She fumed at him, her eyebrows knitting together in frustration.

"So, you know the entire King's Prophecy, do you?"

"I do," he said with a smirk, and Kagome suspected that, now that they were away from the morbid conversation of his deceased family, Inuyasha was enjoying teasing her. "It's a wonderful prophecy, by the way. It's unique."

"How so?" Kagome asked, her agitation momentarily forgotten.

"The first two verses are the prophecy… but the third and final verse is," he paused, collecting his words, "the way to stop it."

"Stop it? There's a way to stop the prophecy?"

"It's not so much _that_," Inuyasha stressed. "Let me see, how do I explain this? The King's Prophecy is a prophecy that explains how the royal family's plans will be destroyed. The royal family is plotting something sinister, and this prophecy is how we… the key and myself… shall stop it."

This new tidbit seemed a bit overwhelming for Kagome and she leaned against a tree miserably, staring at the sky as if it held all the secrets to the prophecy and her life. Everything was spiraling downwards into chaos, and, on top of that, she had a heavy burden hanging around her neck—no matter how much she coaxed it, the jewel would not pulse for her. She was beginning to doubt herself.

"Then why did the royal family want me?"

"You are not the only key," Inuyasha assured. "I'm a key, as well. They banished me, and they got you in their hands. They want the first part of the prophecy to come true. By getting rid of me and capturing you, the third part won't come to pass."

"What will they do to me?" Kagome asked.

"They will use you and then kill you," he said firmly.

Kagome didn't want to believe that Hojo and his family would kill her. Hojo loved her, though, even in her own mind, she did not sound nearly as confident as she would have liked. She looked pained and gave Inuyasha a fathomless look.

"You're the 'key' to the prophecy, too?" she asked, bewildered.

"We are intertwined, Kagome," he said seriously. "Our fate is sealed."

He looked away and inhaled deeply. He looked just as confused and lost as Kagome did, and he actually knew things. Kagome feared for her life and future. Things were twisting around her like a whirlwind and she felt as if she were drowning and flying at the same moment.

"We're intertwined," she said miserably and felt as if she were about to break down.

"I'm…" he paused and looked as if he wanted to apologize. He held off, sighing lightly. "I am prepared for this role. I know what I must do and I am prepared to do it. But you… you never asked for this. You never wanted this."

"I just wanted… to live happily ever after," Kagome whispered despondently.

"I know," Inuyasha sighed, "but I fear you may never see that happy ending. At least, not for a long while yet. And it may not be the one that you wish for. But, Kagome, believe me when I tell you that you must distance yourself from the royal family as soon as you can."

He stepped forward and grasped her shoulders. Kagome still leaned against the tree. She ducked her head, not wanting to see the intense string of emotions racing through his golden eye. The milky eye trained on her and she felt naked under his gaze.

"I will protect you for as long as I can," he vowed and such a statement came as a surprise to Kagome. Inuyasha, not a few hours ago, had proclaimed she was a nuisance and hardly worth his time. Now, suddenly, he was swearing his allegiance to her. "You don't deserve this role you've been forced into, but it is too late for you to leave with your life unless you plan on fulfilling The King's Prophecy."

"I know," Kagome said weakly. What had made Inuyasha present all this information to her?

Silence passed between them. Hesitantly, Inuyasha lifted his hand from her shoulder and took a couple steps back. He glanced over his shoulder and watched his fellow bandits preparing the camp. Fires housed pots bubbling with food and the scent of nourishment wafted through the silent breeze. The enchanted forest seemed to whistle its greeting.

"Are your hands hurt?" he muttered and Kagome suspected this was as close to an apology she would get from the bandit king for his passionate reaction earlier.

"No," she said as she rubbed her wrists, bringing feeling back to the limbs. "They're fine. You just… surprised me."

"Things are going to get harder here on out," he confessed and his eyes flashed. Black hair fluttered with the breeze and he brushed it away. He frowned at her, as if expecting her to say something.

Another moment of silence passed between them, punctuated by Kagome's shallow breathing. "I'm… I'm very confused right now."

"It is understandable," he agreed, looking saddened.

"How can I trust you to be telling the truth?" Kagome whispered out. She swallowed. "You lied to me about who you were. You stole me away from the castle. You tied me up. You held information from me. You're _still_ holding information from me. How can I be sure you're not just trying to assassinate the royal family?"

"There's no way I can make you trust me," he granted. Kagome looked at him determinedly, wishing to see something in his eyes, some kind of hint of truth. "But you're just going to have to trust me on this, Princess. You must."

"There's still so much you're not telling me," Kagome bit back.

Inuyasha snorted. "You should be happy that I have taken such liberties and told you this much as is, Princess."

"But why are you telling me, why out of the blue?" Kagome demanded.

Inuyasha thought this over for a long moment before sighing out feebly. Seeing Inuyasha appear vulnerable put Kagome in a strange position and she felt awkward standing there watching the strange array of emotions on his face.

"Sango and Shippou have both seen the future," Inuyasha said after a moment. "And it is bleak."

"You're telling me this because of what Sango foretold?" Kagome asked calmly. After Inuyasha's nod of agreement, she continued, "But what did she tell you?"

"There are trials that will come," Inuyasha said vaguely. "And it's best you know what you're getting yourself into before you grow attached to me or the other bandits."

She flared up. "If you think I'm attached to you then you're—"

"Good," he cut her off, "Don't get attached. Stay completely objective. If you become attached… it will only lead to misery on your part. I can't afford to have you having unnecessary emotions about us."

"I won't," she vowed. "I feel nothing for you."

He smiled and Kagome wasn't sure if she saw satisfaction or sadness in his eyes. He looked away from her, watching the way the breeze ruffled the branches of the trees surrounding them. They watched the trees mutely and Kagome suppressed the urge to get as far away from Inuyasha as possible.

"Don't fall in love," he finally said.

"Huh?" Kagome gawked. "What are you saying?"

"Don't fall in love, with anyone," he commanded and took a step back away from her. "It will be your undoing if you do. Not anyone." After a moment, he added, "Not even Hojo."

"I love Hojo," she said a bit too quickly. The jewel beneath her tunic stayed stubbornly cold, but she did not let that deter her. "I won't fall in love with anyone else."

"Of course," he said again, "good."

A shiver went through Kagome's body and she bit her lip, ducking her head and refusing to look into the discolored eyes before her. It was strange looking into one golden eye and a milky white eye. She felt unnerved watching him. But, most of all, she could feel the power and magic rolling off him in waves, and she hated how calm it made her feel. She wasn't supposed to be feeling like this. Not now. Not ever.

Everything was going downhill. She just wanted Hojo to save her.

She didn't know who to believe. The beautiful, wonderful Prince Charming? Or this _bandit_ king, who stole her away and lied to her? In a comparison like that, she felt more inclined to rely on the royal family to take care of her. But, at the same time, when she remembered the sheer amount of pain in Inuyasha's eyes…

She didn't know who to believe.

And she hated that.


	10. Chapter Nine

**Open Your Eyes  
Chapter Nine**

---

Her neck was sunburned. She could tell without having to see the neck. She moved along forcefully with everyone else, feeling weak and useless. The bandits wouldn't let her do anything. The people here regarded her as some kind of divine God, yet she was merely a human. They wouldn't let her cook. They wouldn't let her watch the children. They wouldn't let her do laundry. They wouldn't let her mend clothes or tools.

The only one who didn't speak to her as if she were all-mighty was Inuyasha, and that was hardly something to get worked up about. The way he regarded her was unnerving sometimes, almost so uneasy that Kagome sometimes wished he would treat her like a princess.

Her ankles were sore, too. She wasn't used to this much walking, but it beat sitting alone in the caravan with Inuyasha's familiar looking after her. Besides, Inuyasha wouldn't let her out of his sight ever since Midoriko had made her appearance.

"We're a day away from the sea," Inuyasha murmured and Kagome jumped in alarm. She hadn't realized he was walking beside her. She touched her neck and her fingertips burned.

Inuyasha gave her a wary look, like he wanted to just flop down and fall asleep. Shippou sat perched on his shoulder, looking chipper and very childlike, as he always did. Though Kagome wasn't eager to return to the caravan, she did miss spending time with Shippou. He was like the little brother she never had.

"Princess!" Shippou chirped out happily, almost as if he'd read her mind. He launched off of Inuyasha's shoulder and landed on Kagome's own shoulder. The princess giggled and patted the boy's red hair.

"Hello to you, too, Shippou," Kagome said pleasantly, happy to see a friendly face in a sea of bandits. No matter how disturbing it was to remember Shippou was a supernatural creature.

Inuyasha only seemed mildly miffed by Shippou's affectionate welcome for the princess. He sighed lightly and repeated, "We're a day away from the sea."

"Oh?" Kagome asked lightly, "Well, that's nice. I've never seen the sea before."

"I know that," Inuyasha snapped and then jerked his head away. Kagome watched him suspiciously. "But there's a rebellion there."

"I know of the rebellion," Kagome reminded lightly and gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "You told me already."

She remembered what he'd said last time, about Hojo's family decimating Inuyasha's family. Kagome still wasn't sure what his family had done to deserve it, if anything, and she still wasn't sure who to believe. Inuyasha was just as evasive to her questions as before. And she'd thought things had opened up a bit between them, since she'd promised not to grow attached to him. She was an unwilling prisoner.

Inuyasha was watching the sky and took a moment to answer her. When he did, all he said was, "You must be careful from now on."

"I have been careful," Kagome said sharply. "Are you saying I'm clumsy?"

He lowered his eyes from the sky and gave her an amused look. The corner of his lip curved upwards and he looked a bit sinister with his black hair covering his white eye. "No, that's not what I was saying," he reprimanded gently, "I mean you must be careful hereafter."

Kagome's eyebrows slanted downwards. "I can take care of myself."

"Inuyasha's worried," Shippou translated.

"Why you…!" Inuyasha snarled and grasped the top of Shippou's head. The small fox child squealed delightfully and didn't look the least bit afraid of Inuyasha's violent streak. "Don't say such things!"

"Inuyasha's worried!" Shippou chirped again and squirmed out of Inuyasha's hold, sticking out his tongue as he returned to Kagome's shoulder. "And you can't hurt me, I'm part of your soul."

The wizard growled angrily and looked like he could have cheerfully strangled the child if he hadn't been hiding protectively behind Kagome's own neck. The princess smiled sweetly at Inuyasha, deciding some teasing was in order. Hey, he teased her all the time.

"Ah, does the wittle Bandit King care about me?" Kagome asked, whilst batting her eyelashes.

Inuyasha's golden eye flashed and he snarled at her, looking like he was debating strangling her just to get at his familiar. Kagome stuck out her tongue and, along with Shippou, was quite a sight.

The magician snorted and turned away from the two. "I don't need this. Shippou, watch the princess."

Kagome watched him go. "Huh, he can dish out the teasing but can't take any in return."

Shippou laughed, "He doesn't like to feel belittled. It's a pet peeve."

"You know a lot about Inuyasha," Kagome said conversationally, happy to have a companion for a change. The other bandits were fine, but they still groveled over her like a goddess and it was more than a little annoying.

"Of course," Shippou said happily. "I'm a fraction of his soul pulled away in order to become his familiar."

"Hard to think you're part of his soul," Kagome said hesitantly, "I can't imagine Inuyasha ever being as sweet and gentle as you are."

Shippou giggled. "I'm a personification of everything that he's lost."

It was a bit strange hearing such a thing coming from a chirping fox, and Kagome felt uncomfortable. Inuyasha wasn't cheerful or childlike. To think that he'd somehow _lost_ that was disturbing to her. Perhaps Shippou meant he lost it when the royal family killed his family.

"He's lost so much, hasn't he?" Kagome asked bitterly.

Shippou nodded gravely. He pressed his cheek against Kagome's and smiled, his green eyes dancing. "But he'll be okay," he reassured, "Because the princess is here."

"Don't be silly." Kagome shook her head. "I'm here against my will so that he can complete the prophecy. I'm the key. As long as I'm alive, I'll be a grievance to him."

Shippou hummed. "You should listen to me more, Kagome. I'm a portion of Inuyasha's soul. I am _connected_ to him. I know my master. I know everything about him."

Kagome paused in her step and turned to look over her shoulder, where Inuyasha was helping herd some children back towards their mother; one was grabbing onto his arm and laughing loudly. He looked miffed but didn't shove the child away.

He must have sensed her eyes on him because he jerked his head up and his eyes narrowed. He looked pissed off that she was looking at him and turned away with an aggravated look on his face, and the tiniest bit of blushes on his cheeks.

A cloud passed over the sun.

Kagome turned around and bit her lip. "I don't make him happy."

Her heart clenched and Kagome stomped her foot impatiently. No, she was not allowed to be upset by that! Inuyasha was her captor, and she'd be damned if she was growing attached to him. He stole her away from her perfect life, and she could never forgive him for that.

Shippou huffed and crossed his stubby little arms. "Fine, don't believe me. But the words of The Judgment have already begun moving, and you cannot stop it."

"Too bad I don't understand anything about tarot cards of seeing the future, Shippou," Kagome said with a roll of her eyes.

"Hey," Inuyasha snapped as he came back over to her. He grabbed her wrist and started dragging her. "Come with me."

"Hey!" Kagome said loudly and tried to pull out of his grip. Shippou laughed on her shoulder and her cheeks turned pink despite herself. "Let me go this instant! This is humiliating!"

People were staring. Children peeked out from inside caravans.

"At this point, I'd think you wouldn't care about such things now, Princess," Inuyasha sneered, threw back the curtain on the caravan and tossed her inside. She squawked at him, but with a pointed glare he released his hold on the tarp covering the caravan and left her.

"That jerk!" she seethed and Shippou giggled again. She turned to look at the fox. "Stop that. What's so funny?"

"Inuyasha's worried," Shippou said for the third time. "He doesn't want Princess to get hurt."

"I'm capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much," Kagome said snidely, and glared at the wall because she couldn't bring herself to glare at the fox child. "I'm not something that will break. I'm not fragile."

"He doesn't want you to get hurt," Shippou insisted. "He's been using magic to ease your aches and pains. He's lent you the softest blankets for sleeping. He's given you food and shelter. He just doesn't want you to get hurt. He cares."

"This is not a sign that he cares," Kagome snapped. "Under normal circumstances, and if he were anyone _but_ Inuyasha, yes it would be affection. But I am not a princess. I am not a little flower that will be crushed by the wind. I've lived under my stepmother's rule for years, and I didn't bend and break under her."

"He just doesn't want you to get hurt."

"What are you talking about?" Kagome squawked and moved to the exit of the caravan. She'd be damned if she let him treat her like luggage. She whipped the curtain open and was assaulted by an onslaught of heavy water droplets. She blinked her eyes.

Thunder rumbled high above and rain fell dangerously fast against the men and women walking outside. Kagome's eyebrows furrowed in frustration. It'd been sunny not too long ago.

"He was putting the children into a haven to keep them from getting wet," Kagome realized. Then she grew angry. "What the hell? I am not a child!"

"He doesn't want you to get sick, Princess," Shippou explained.

"Does he not care about the other women walking outside, then?" Kagome snapped. She stood up and daintily hopped out of the caravan. She nearly tripped and got trampled by the horse behind the caravan she'd emerged from, but she managed to dodge gracefully.

She stomped her way through the rain. Lightening flashed, but she didn't even notice as she marched up to Inuyasha and grabbed the front of his tunic.

She tugged him down to her eye level and he gave her a surprised look. His eyebrows shot upwards as Kagome's grip on his tunic tightened.

"I am not made of glass," she seethed. "I will not break."

He gave her a bewildered look before his lips burst into a smirk. "Is that so?"

"Yes," Kagome stressed. "Mere water cannot deter me. I am not some damsel in distress who waits patiently for her prince to come and save her. I am not weak."

"Oh?"

"Don't patronize me," Kagome commanded in her most authoritative voice.

"I did not know you reacted so strongly to such things," Inuyasha said casually, but there was an underlying warning in his tone.

"Don't insult me! I know you've been treating me like I'll break at any moment for days now! You won't let me work around here! You won't let me walk for too long! You shelter me from the rain! I am not some damsel!"

"I must have been mistaken, are you not a damsel? You can't even fight for yourself. You're sitting around docile, waiting for your Prince Charming to come and save you, aren't you?"

"I am not sitting around!"

"You're waiting for Hojo to save you. Can't have him feeling emasculated, now can we?"

"I am doing no such thing!"

"You're not even putting up a fight for your so called imprisonment. What is keeping you here, Princess?"

"I am not sitting around docile, but I'm not stupid enough to go against you. You have magic on your side. All I have are boots that are too large for me."

"You're right," he said with a smirk, "If you were to run away, I would chase you. I would catch you. I'll never let you get away."

Kagome flared up, looking like a disgruntled rooster more than the regal princess she was supposed to be. "I will be saved."

"Because you are incapable of saving yourself."

Her grip on his tunic tightened and she pulled him down further. She looked like she was about ready to slam him in the forehead with her own forehead. She looked like she could have done so without a scratch on her own head, so obvious was her own fury.

"I hate you," she hissed.

He raised his eyebrows, completely unperturbed by her display. "Be indifferent to me. For hate is still an emotion."

"I hate you," she insisted.

He rolled his eyes. "Were you this rebellious against your stepmother? Against the royal family? It's hard to believe you could even pass for a princess without anyone realizing."

Her eyes narrowed. "I lived under my stepmother's reign for years, and she and my stepsisters tired to crush me under their boots. I had to do as she said or she'd kill me, but I made every waking moment for that woman a living nightmare. I do not roll over like an obedient dog. She had to work for _my_ labor."

"Is that so?"

"She made me suffer," she hissed. "She made me sleep in the barn with the animals, or, sometimes, in the fireplace. They started calling me 'Cinders', and thought it was the funniest thing on the planet."

"Slept among the ashes and soot, did you?" Kagome wasn't sure if Inuyasha sounded amused when she said this.

She shook him. "She made me eat just enough to keep me alive. And when the ball came… if it hadn't been for Midoriko, I wouldn't be here now."

His eyes misted over. "Magic does not decide your destiny, Princess. It aids you, but it does not define you. You are here because you are meant to be. Not because of some magic for one night."

"No! I'm here because of _you_ and _your_ blasted magic! If you had just disappeared like youwere _supposed_ to, then I would be—"

"You would be right where they want you," he responded evenly, and didn't snap at her like Kagome half-expected him to. "If it weren't for me, you'd be dead on your birthday."

"I don't need your help."

He smirked, but didn't look quite as pleased as she would have expected. "Yes, you do."

Kagome's eyes narrowed and her black hair, wet from the rain, stuck to her face uncomfortably. She probably looked like a drowned rat, but she didn't care. She wanted to strangle him. She wanted to run away. But he would catch her, and they both knew it.

They both knew she couldn't save herself.

And they both knew that she hated herself for being unable to do so.

---

_Damn you, Inuyasha,_ Kagome thought bitterly that night as she slept in the caravan. Shippou dozed beside her, but Kagome knew that he wasn't really sleeping. Familiars only slept when they returned to the master. Kagome growled lightly to herself with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes trained on the covering of the caravan. _Damn you to hell._

"Princess?" Shippou murmured quietly.

Kagome's eyes softened and she asked, "I'm sorry, Shippou, am I distracting you?"

"No," Shippou said and didn't open his eyes. Kagome wasn't sure what he was doing, but he was being unusually still and concentrating on something. "I was thinking, that's all."

"About what?"

"Master," Shippou said, and then corrected himself, "Inuyasha."

"What about him?" Kagome asked warily. She was aware of Shippou's affection towards Inuyasha and didn't want to insult him in front of the fox. Shippou had, after all, come from Inuyasha's soul.

"He won't listen to me."

"Why not? You wouldn't lie to him."

"He doesn't want to believe what I say to him," Shippou said mournfully. Kagome wondered why they were talking about this. "Princess… how do you make him listen to you?"

"He doesn't," Kagome said quickly and looked away from the familiar. "He doesn't listen to a single word I say."

"But he does," Shippou said, and added before Kagome could protest, "I would know."

"I don't know, then. He barely says anything to me. And when he does, he's all cryptic and vague, I have no idea what's going on anymore. Not like I ever did. This is all as hazy as it's always been. It's damned frustrating, I want to know what he's doing, what's happening, and why this all has to revolve around me!"

"He'll have to tell you everything in due time," Shippou reassured. "It's impossible for him to hide it forever."

Kagome looked down at her crossed arms and slowly unfolded them, staring at he palms of her hands. Her heart throbbed again as she thought of the recent events and she turned over, looking annoyed and peeved with the entire situation. She curled into a ball and clenched her eyes shut, wishing she were back home, before all this. She wished her father was still alive.

"Princess?" Shippou murmured. "I am a fraction of Inuyasha's soul. I am not him, exactly, but, please… don't be sad. It makes my heart hurt when you're sad."

Kagome wished she could sink into the ground.

---

It seemed like it was going to be another boring day for Kagome. She didn't like walking as much as she thought she could. Perhaps the fight with Inuyasha made him less inclined to perform his magic on her pains, because her ankles felt a lot worse.

In fact, she hadn't been speaking to Inuyasha much at all for the entire day. She figured he was angry with her, but that was okay by her because she was certainly angry with him, too. She didn't like the way he treated her, and she hated the truth in his words when he said she wasn't able to save herself.

_I really am useless,_ she thought miserably and quickly banished the thought. _No, I am worth something. I'm worth something to Inuyasha, because I'm the key. And I'm worth something to Hojo because he is to be my husband. He's out there searching for me, and while I should be able to take care of myself, I need to be able to wait for him to save me, too._

She hated herself for being weak.

A seagull cawed above her and she froze in shock, staring at the creature as it flew. She was not completely familiar with the creature, but she knew that a seagull was near the sea. She perked up considerably. Now that she paused to think about it, the air smelled salty. She'd never been to the sea before, but it mattered not, for she knew that what she smelled was the ocean.

"We're here!" she cheered and some women walking by gave her an amused look. She didn't care. She was thrilled. "We've reached the sea!"

She could even forgive Inuyasha for the moment, as she ran up to him and grabbed the sleeve of his tunic. He was leading a horse but paused when she grabbed him. He gave her an unreadable look for a moment before shaking his head and frowning at her thoughtfully.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked.

"The sea! We're here!" she said happily. She could smell the sea. The seagulls were flying above her. "I've never seen the sea before!"

He gave her a strange look and then chuckled. And then he smiled. Kagome wasn't used to the smile and released her hold on his sleeve and clasping her hands together.

"You're like a child," he said, but he said it in an almost affectionate tone, not in a teasing one. Kagome blinked at him in surprise as he continued leading the horse forward. "Yes, we've reached the sea. We should be at the ports in half an hour's time."

"Wow," Kagome marveled and smiled brightly. "The forest really does lead right to the ocean. Is there… is there sand?"

He laughed again. "Who knew that such simple things could bring you joy!"

Kagome blushed, realizing how foolish she must sound. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you with my trifling pleasures." She wasn't sure if he was making fun of her or not. "I'll leave."

"No, don't," he said, still laughing. He handed her the reigns of the horse. "It's refreshing. I so rarely get to see the princess smile." He smirked. "Be a dear and hold this for me, will you?"

Kagome stared at the horse. "How do you know that I won't take it and leave?"

"Can you ride bareback?" he asked skeptically. Kagome, of course, could not, but she didn't need to say so. "Good, now be a good girl and stay here."

He walked away in the opposite direction, towards the back of the bandit group. She followed him with her eyes and watched how quickly he retreated. Had he been unnerved by their actual civil conversation? Kagome had. Her heart was still beating painfully. She clenched the fabric above her heart and closed her eyes tightly. She didn't like to think it was possible to be kind to Inuyasha.

Was he just being nice to her because he felt bad for the words he'd said to her? He was, after all, a rather crude guy. But, at the same time, there were instances when Kagome could forget that he despised her. There were moments when Kagome could dare to say they were friends.

True to Inuyasha's word, they reached the sea in half an hour, but Kagome could only see the distant horizon over the bustling town of the port city. It was large, like the capital. Ships dotted the horizon and the port. Kagome stared, unsure how to take it all in.

The bandit group stopped just at the edge of the forest, before the dirt path melted into cobblestone roads. Kagome absorbed the look and feel of a sea-side city. Her blue eyes reflected the sky.

"Okay," Inuyasha said, once the group of bandits assembled. "Despite the fact that this city houses more rebels than loyalists, the fact remains that the king has probably posted guards and soldiers to search for the princess." He gave Kagome a look, as if this were all her fault. He continued, "We cannot freely walk into this city. We are, after all, banished criminals."

A strange hush befell the group, for they'd said so many times that they were not disloyal to the throne. Kagome stared at her feet.

"You're no criminal, Inuyasha," one man said boldly.

Inuyasha sighed and nodded. "I know. Nor are many of you. But our voices matter not in the eyes of that old king." He snorted. "We're here for supplies from the rebellion. After that, we're returning to the forest and going back to the kingdom."

"This all seems like a lot of work just for some supplies," Kagome snorted.

Inuyasha glared at her. "Who would suspect we'd return to the scene of the crime, Princess?"

Kagome huffed.

"Anyway," Inuyasha continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "Miroku, you go and scoop out the city. No one here knows your face."

Miroku nodded and made his way past a group of bandits before setting foot on the cobblestone road. He turned back to Inuyasha and gave him a nod. "If I'm not back in an hour, come get me."

After that, the group mostly dispersed. They stayed in hidden in the enchanted forest, wary of travelers who dared wander too close to their hiding place. Kagome was bored out of her skull, but it was to her satisfaction that Inuyasha was, too.

He sat in the grass, leaning against a tree and picking at some lint on his trouser pants. He looked like he wanted to move, but was resigned to waiting for the lookout to return. Kagome couldn't blame him.

"So the rebellion's inside the city?" Kagome asked conversationally.

Inuyasha eyed her and nodded mutely.

She sat down next to him, half expecting him to shove her away. He stared off toward the horizon and said nothing, so Kagome took that as a good sign. She sighed lightly and picked at a blade of grass with her fingertips.

"How long will we stay here?"

"Just a couple days. For regrouping and resupplying," Inuyasha said lightly. "I'd go tomorrow, but they get angry with me if I'm too hasty with our movements."

"Are we… really going back to the capital?" Kagome wasn't sure what her feelings on this were.

"Hojo is probably still out there searching for you. He wouldn't expect me to go back there. If I were smart, I'd go into hiding with you until the dawn of your eighteenth birthday. Without you, they can't start the beginning part of the prophecy. But I'm going back."

"Why risk it?" Kagome asked, genuinely curious.

He looked like he was mulling over his next words, contemplating telling her or not. Finally, he sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "They took something away from me," he said, and sounded far more confident than he looked, "and I want it back."

"You're going back just for a vendetta?" she questioned hesitantly.

"Yes," he said gravely.

"I applaud your bravado," Kagome said skeptically. "What did they take from you? It obviously isn't just because of your…" She paused, unsure whether to continue. She swallowed and managed to choke out, "family?"

"Nothing that concerns you, Princess," he said delicately, which was something Kagome wouldn't normally associate with Inuyasha's voice. He was anything but delicate. Hell, even she wasn't delicate.

"I hate being in the dark about these things," Kagome said stubbornly. "I wish you would tell me more about you and this prophecy. I just want to know."

"Ignorance is bliss," he said helpfully.

"Ignorance is a pain in the ass," she shot back.

"Such language doesn't befit a lady of your stature," he said with only the tiniest hint of sarcasm. Kagome snorted again and rolled her eyes. She stared at the tree branches high above her. The wind rustled the leaves and they seemed to whisper to her.

"What did they take from you?"

"Many things," he granted. He shrugged again. "Some things I can retrieve, and others I will never see again."

Kagome stared down at the blade of grass in her hand and didn't dare lift her head to glance at the bandit king. He sat in silence beside her, considering his words and thinking. Kagome sighed and released the blade of grass. It floated in the air for a moment before dropping back down to Earth.

"What lies ahead?" she asked hesitantly.

"If Sango and Shippou have anything to say about it, a lot of trouble." He kicked out his feet, obviously not liking the current topic at hand. "Seeing into the future is overrated. If it weren't for the fucking prophecy, maybe I'd have a normal life."

"Maybe," Kagome agreed.

"You'd have your happily ever after," he said lightly.

"I still will," Kagome promised, and wondered why she sounded so confident. "I'm sure you'll live happily ever after, too."

He stiffened for a moment before laughing bitterly. "People like me never get happy endings. We're the antagonists of people who deserve happy endings. Like you."

"Who says you're undeserving?" Kagome questioned.

Inuyasha laughed. "The direction I'm heading… the path I've chosen to walk… there is nothing heroic and happy about revenge, Kagome." He was calling her by name again. Kagome was too engrossed in his words to care. "I shall continue down this course until my wish is granted. I will die before I give up on my wish."

He stood up and stared at the horizon beyond. From her position on the ground, Inuyasha actually looked rather tall and valiant. The sun high above them hit his hair in just the right manner, and Kagome never really considered just how pronounced and regal his profile looked. He stood up straight and tall, and looked like he was a king of something greater than a group of bandits.

Kagome blushed and looked down, silently reprimanding herself for complimenting Inuyasha's features, if only in her own mind. But she couldn't deny that Inuyasha wasn't unattractive. In fact, she usually chose to ignore such things, because that was something an almost-married woman should not be thinking.

"Either way, I will die," Inuyasha broke the silence with softly spoken words. Kagome whipped her head up, momentarily forgetting the blush that painted her cheeks. He'd shifted his gaze to look down at her. "My wish will only bring death. But I still wish for it."

Kagome swallowed and fiddled with the sash holding her oversized tunic closer to her body. A strange shiver ran through her body.

"I don't think you're undeserving of a happy ending," Kagome said lightly, and prayed Inuyasha hadn't heard her.

He had, and he chuckled. His laughter lacked malice and sarcasm, however. He knelt beside her, and he looked like he almost wanted to smile.

"Come on," he said, grabbing her hand and hauling her upwards. "I'll take you to the sea now."

Kagome wondered why he was being so nice to her.

The books she'd read hadn't been lying. When the written word described the sea, Kagome had yearned to touch it and remember it and see it. As they drew closer to the ocean, Kagome grew more and more energetic as the ocean scent filled her nostrils.

"What about Miroku? He hasn't finished scouting."

"No one would dare fight me here," Inuyasha said casually. They made their way closer to the waters. He draped his cloak over her head. "Don't let your face be seen. The last thing I need is for someone to recognize you."

Kagome did as she was told and wondered why she wasn't raising the alert for people to come and rescue her. She decided it was because she wanted to see the sea so desperately. She followed happily behind Inuyasha, eager to see the water.

They made it to a sandy beach and Kagome smiled brightly, taking in the look and feel of sand beneath her feet and water stretching far beyond her human eyesight. Her heart leapt into her throat and she grasped Inuyasha's cloak tightly. She could smell him, and it was just as overpowering as the scent of seawater.

"The sea," Kagome said lightly, "Is so beautiful. I've seen pictures… but… it's so beautiful."

"Yeah," Inuyasha agreed softly. His golden eye stared at the horizon. "It's free."

Kagome looked at him, surprised at the shockingly subtle, yet deep, declaration. She turned away from him and tucked some black hair behind her ear.

"I wonder if Prince Hojo would have taken me to the sea," Kagome said lightly. She saw Inuyasha scowl out of the corner of her eye.

"When are you going to realize?" he hissed.

"Realize what?"

"That he's not as great as you make him out to be," Inuyasha snapped and kicked at a shell in the sand. It cracked under the kick and split in two. He glared at it, as if it was the cause of his anger. "He's using you, you know."

Kagome didn't meet his eyes. "We love each other."

"How can it possibly be love?" Inuyasha asked skeptically.

"Have _you_ ever been in love?" she countered.

"Someone like me has no time for petty things like love."

Kagome closed her eyes and felt her heart throb again. She wished it'd stop doing that.

"You'll break someone's heart with those words, someday."

"Ha," he said bitterly, and didn't sound the least bit amused. "That's a laugh. Someone like me has no time for love, but no one would love someone like me."

"I don't like self-pity," Kagome said lightly, "especially coming from you. It doesn't suit you."

He grinned acrimoniously. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"It wasn't meant to be," Kagome countered. "Since when were you so bitter about love, anyway?"

"No reason," he said with a shrug. "I've seen it wage war. I've also seen your silly display of affection for your prince."

"That's what you do when you're in love."

"Is it really love?" he questioned.

"It was love at first sight."

He snorted and rolled his eyes. Kagome glared at him. He pretended not to notice. "What kind of person falls in love at first sight? What can something so trivial possibly create an everlasting bond?"

"It was."

"There is no such thing as love at first sight," he said boldly.

Kagome sat down in the sand and drew her legs close to her chest, staring off towards the ocean. "You don't know anything."

"What could a first meeting possibly constitute that could create something as intense and precious as love?" Inuyasha demanded as he flopped down beside her, kicking up sand as he went. Kagome closed her eyes so it wouldn't get in her eyes. The last thing she wanted was to start crying from sand in her eyes.

"I think you're just bitter."

"And I think you're just foolish. What could love at first sight be, hm? You see the beauty of that person. But that beauty is only skin-deep."

"You're unusually deep today."

"And you're missing my point."

Kagome didn't answer.

Inuyasha didn't seem to care about her lack of enthusiasm and he continued, "A first meeting can create many things, but not love. Things that people often confuse with love. Security, obsession, lust…"

He sighed and picked up a small rock before chucking it towards the water. It splashed with a small ripple. He watched the lolling waves and sighed.

"Love grows. It doesn't spark."

Kagome hugged her legs to her chest tighter, feeling raw and exposed under his intense words. She never knew that Inuyasha could harbor such intelligence. Sure, she knew he was smart and crafty. He had to be in order to live as the stable boy without the royal family's knowledge. But, he was deep. There was depth in his eyes.

"Look, sea glass," she said, deciding a change of subject was in order. She picked up the milky white glass—perhaps, at one point, it had been clear. It was white and rounded now.

She looked up at Inuyasha to see him watching her. His eyes were soft and the wind played with his black hair. She held the weathered and worn piece of glass in her hand, but she was captivated by Inuyasha's eyes.

They looked just like the sea glass.

Kagome wondered why it'd taken her so long to realize. Inuyasha was not just some bandit king, anymore. She'd spent too much time with him to think of him as merely her captor. She'd never seen such painful eyes before.

"What are you looking at?" he groused.

Kagome shook her head and dropped the white glass to the ground. "No, nothing. Sorry."

She closed her eyes and rested her chin against her knee.

"I know this means nothing to you," Kagome said after a long silence, "but thank you for taking me here."

"I can't even begin to wonder why you're thanking me," Inuyasha muttered. "I took you away from your _love_. You should hate me."

"Hmm," Kagome said lightly. "You wanted me to be indifferent to you, right? So, let's just say I am and be done with it."

"You're in dangerous waters, Kagome," he warned.

The girl smiled. "You said my name."

"Don't get used to it," he muttered and his cheeks turned pink.

---

_Author's Notes:_ Wow, hey, everybody. It's been a long time since I've done an author's notes, huh? I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's stuck with this story, despite my terrible fight against the dreaded writer's block.

I figured that maybe I should answer some misconceptions I've been getting in reviews. Usually, instead of addressing them here or in review replies, I try and work it into the story, just so that I don't insult anybody by being unintentionally rude, or anything like that.

Well, I guess there's only one real misconception. This lies with Kagome's affections, whether that be for Inuyasha and Hojo. As many people who are familiar with my stories will know, I don't like to rush the romance. But I also like working with real human emotions, when I can. Those of you out there that remember your first love and those feelings, try and have some patience with the princess. And please excuse Inuyasha's cynicism about love and life in general. He has good reasons, I swear.

Thanks again for all your love and support. It means the world to me.


	11. Chapter Ten

**Open Your Eyes  
Chapter Ten**

---

Night fell slowly at the sea. Of course, she'd spent a long time in the forest, and the shadows made night seem to fall quickly there. At the coastal city, Kagome could watch the sky for hours and it would still shed flickering light on the moving water or the soft building windows.

"Keep your face hidden," Inuyasha snapped beside her when she reached to remove the hood of the cloak he'd made her wear. She paused and glared at him, angered that he'd disrupted the silence. He pretended to not see her indignant look. "Do you know what will happen if you're seen?"

"I'll be free?" Kagome guessed this was not the answer but voiced it anyway.

He narrowed his eyes. "No," he stressed roughly, "You'll be stolen away."

"I've already been stolen," Kagome returned softly.

He bristled like a cat dropped in water. She didn't back down and just continued giving him an indescribable look, wanting to make him as uncomfortable as possible. Her heart felt heavy. She ignored that feeling.

"You could be taken away by someone who isn't nearly as generous and kind as I am," Inuyasha responded evenly and his golden eyes narrowed when Kagome snorted.

"Whatever you say," Kagome said with a shrug of her shoulders. "It's not like it matters to me. In the end, Prince Hojo will come to me."

Inuyasha sighed, as if he were dealing with a foolish child. Whenever she wanted Inuyasha to stop talking, she just pulled the Hojo card. It worked every time. And, like the other times, Inuyasha's voice fell silent and he stared moodily out towards the horizon.

And, like the other times before, Kagome felt guilty for bringing Hojo up. She didn't know why, and pointedly chose not to search further into her motives and her feelings of guilt. It was just something she didn't want to answer, for the question was fearful enough.

"I think that…" Kagome paused in thought when Inuyasha didn't turn to question her. She sighed wearily and pushed her cloak back. Billows of long ebony hair fell over her shoulders and wavered in the wind.

He whipped his head around, looking like he wanted to protest her revealing. She pressed a finger to her lips and smiled pleasantly. He stared at her, flabbergasted. She tucked a long strand of black hair behind her ear.

"I think that," she repeated before he could speak, "you're still hiding so much from me."

His dark eyebrows arched upwards and he shrugged his shoulders. He turned back towards the horizon, watching the lolling waves with a critical eye. He wasn't offering any information.

"What brought this sudden observation on?" he asked casually, but she could sense the underlying tension in his tone. She was treading on thin ice.

She shrugged her shoulders and pulled his cloak closer to her for warmth. She could smell him amid the salty sea air. She tried not to be too comforted by his presence, but with every passing day it was growing harder and harder.

"I just…" she paused to collect her thoughts before continuing, "wish you could be honest with me."

"Why would I do something as idiotic as that?"

"Why indeed?" she whispered bitterly, wishing his words didn't sting as much as they did.

He swallowed, looking uneasy. He pushed his long black hair away from his face and Kagome was once again struck by his strong profile. His piercing eyes surveyed the horizon as if he was waiting for someone or something to come over the edge of the waters far beyond.

"I can understand. You don't trust me."

"_You_ don't trust me," he returned, his voice soft.

Kagome stared at him, her blue eyes hesitant and glittering in the dying sunset.

"Says who?" she ventured bravely and wished she could call the words back.

His eyes widened and he seemed to tense. He ducked his head, finally pulling his eyes away from the sunset before them. Kagome felt her heart thunder in her chest. There was a strange, uneasy silence pulled between them, suspended in the air.

"If you were smart you wouldn't," he finally said.

"You're always saying I'm stupid," Kagome said lightly, and the tiniest bit of amusement danced in her voice. Her eyes twinkled, but Inuyasha couldn't see them.

"You trust me, then?"

Kagome hesitated, unsure what to say to such a question. She didn't know whether or not Inuyasha wanted to hear her truthfully. She wasn't sure what it was that Inuyasha wanted to hear in the first place. She swallowed the thick lump in her throat and tried to stand up a bit straighter, tried to look a bit braver.

She heard Inuyasha shift beside her but couldn't bring herself to turn her head and watch him. He seemed to be walking away and Kagome wanted him to stay. She wanted to answer him. His footsteps were muffled by the soft sand beneath them, but Kagome heard it as if he were stomping on glass.

"I do…" she murmured, but he must not have heard her because he didn't speak. She couldn't hear his footsteps in the sand.

She clenched her eyes shut. She'd answered incorrectly. Inuyasha didn't want her to trust him. They were supposed to be enemies. He was an enemy of the crown. He'd stolen her away from her one true love.

She'd forgotten how cold the stone on her chest was.

"I do," she repeated, and tried to summon the courage to turn around and face him. She wanted to see his face, even if he was looking at her in disgust.

"Well, well, well," a brisk voice said behind Kagome that was not Inuyasha's voice. She whipped around in alarm to see a tall man towering over her. He smirked at her and his eyes were sharp. "If it isn't the princess."

Kagome took a step backwards, knowing that something was wrong. She searched for Inuyasha and found him a short ways off, on the ground with his eyes closed. Why hadn't she noticed this man's approach? Why hadn't she heard Inuyasha fall to the ground? Why hadn't he been able to protect himself?

"What did you do to him?" Kagome demanded.

The man shrugged. "Nothing he can die from. He's stronger than he looks."

And then someone behind Kagome hit her in the back of the head and everything went black.

---

When Kagome became aware of herself again she was in a darkened room. She shifted and sat up. The room was dark, but on the far side of the building Kagome could just make out the glow of a fire under the door. That thin crack of light brought her some strange comfort. Kagome stared at the warm glow longingly.

Then she wondered where she was and feared gripped her. She tried to stand up but found herself bound by ropes to a hanger in the wall. She stared at it critically and tried to reach her hands around to untie herself.

"I wouldn't try it, Princess," a soft voice whispered and she jumped, unaware that she was not alone in the room.

A young man sat on a chair, overlooking the princess' movement. She glared at him because it seemed like the right thing to do. She couldn't tell in the darkness, but Kagome could have sworn that his thin lips curved upwards. He was the man from before, on the beach.

"Release me," she commanded and her voice sounded parched.

"I don't know if I should or not."

"Who are you?"

His smirk seemed to widen. Kagome shivered and seemed to shrink into herself. She wished she could save herself, but the ropes dug into her wrists. They would leave marks. Her feet ached. She wished Inuyasha—

No. She didn't want anything from Inuyasha.

"My name is unimportant to the likes of you," he supplied evenly.

"Well, you're obviously not for the kingdom if you're willing to tie the future queen up," Kagome said bitterly and forgot that this man probably lacked Inuyasha's sense of bitter humor. Sure enough, the man's smirk seemed to slip off his face like water.

"I would never support such a dirty ruler."

"You're with the rebellion, then," Kagome amended softly. The man made a small noise in the back of his throat and Kagome knew she was correct in her guess. "And now that you've captured me, what do you plan to do?"

"Why should I tell you?" he demanded and then seemed to think better of it. He tapped his fingers against his strong chin. His fingers were dirty. "Hmm, I suppose in this situation, leaving you in the dark would not be beneficial." His blackened fingers fell to his side. "If you must know, I plan to ransom you off. The king will pay a fine price for his future daughter's head, I'm sure."

"Ah, ransom and blackmail, how quaint," Kagome said snippily.

"You've been around Inuyasha for far too long, Princess Kagome," the man said evenly and chuckled mirthlessly. "His attitude has rubbed off on you. And there's nothing I hate more than a woman who refuses to be servile."

"Hm," Kagome hummed, sounding very unimpressed with the man's words. "No, I've tried the whole servitude thing, and it really wasn't for me."

"A wisecracker, too, I see," the man said with false sweetness. "It's a shame Prince Hojo would have a fit if I returned his bride without her tongue."

Kagome clamped her mouth shut and leaned against the wall, trying to reach the ropes without being too conspicuous. She should have listened to Inuyasha. He must have known that the rebellion was lurking around, searching for the princess. Word would have spread by now that he'd stolen her away. She hated it when he was right.

"You are as beautiful as the rumors say," the man said smoothly, and Kagome did not like hearing such a compliment from him. "Your hair shines, even in the darkness. Your eyes are bright and blue, like the sea."

"Stop that," Kagome commanded. "I don't need your flattery."

"It is not flattery, Princess, it is a statement of fact. You are, by far, the most beautiful woman of this world." Kagome frowned at him. "You must be simply radiant when you smile. When you are not dressed in peasant garb. When you are draped over the arm of your prince."

She could hear the bitterness in his voice, but, at the same time, the strange sense of awe. Everyone was awed by her beauty, and it was growing thin on Kagome's nerves. Her beauty, her beauty, her beauty… was that all they ever talked about? What about _her?_ As a person?

"I do not _drape_ over anyone," Kagome snapped angrily. "And I am not nearly as beautiful as everyone seems to think I am. Beauty is not important."

"Ha," he laughed. Kagome wasn't sure if he was laughing at the draping, her statement, or a combination of both. "Do you think that Prince Hojo would have chosen you if you were merely average?"

"That's what Inuyasha said," Kagome muttered.

"Yes, he would say something like that, wouldn't he?" the man said lightly.

"You should release me," Kagome said, and knew very well that it wouldn't work. That didn't stop her from saying it, though.

He snorted. "No, I think I'll auction you off to the royal family. I'll get a hefty sum for you."

"You're stupid," Kagome countered creatively, unable to come up with a better comeback than that. "You'll be playing right into the king's hands if you return me."

_Wait,_ her mind screamed at her, _What are you doing? You can't possibly be helping the rebellion! You can't go home if they refuse to bring you there!_

The rebel seemed to be considering her words. He tapped his fingers against his chin. "Unless," he said lightly, "this is your ploy to get free."

"Why would I do something so trepid?" Kagome questioned, her mind reeling. She had to scare this man somehow. She had to get free, so that she could go home. Before she could stop herself, she whispered, "When I could just use magic?"

The man's eyes widened in the darkness and they were a very bright color. The glow from the fire behind the door cast a strange shadow on his face as he stared at her, taking in every dip and curve of her body. Kagome felt naked.

"You have exchanged magic with Inuyasha?" he asked in wonderment.

Kagome had no idea what he meant, but decided to go with it. "Yes."

The man bit his lower lip and appeared to be deep in thought. Kagome tried to focus her attentions on freeing herself. She had to get away. She had no idea where in the city she was, and she had no idea where Inuyasha was, either. She had to get out of here.

"So, you love Inuyasha then?"

Kagome nearly choked on nothing and started coughing uncontrollably. Her entire body felt weak and her heart flopped and soared at the same time before crash landing into her stomach and staying there, where it was brutally devoured by butterflies.

"What?" she squeaked once she'd regained some level of control.

The man seemed unperturbed by her display and reiterated, "So you love him? To do something as intense and final as a magic exchanging ceremony… it is an expression of love among wizards."

One of the butterflies in her stomach was eating the others. She felt like she would die. Her face was bright red.

"It's amazing," he continued, taking her silence as an affirmative. "I never would have guessed Inuyasha would do something as intense like that, especially with the princess."

"N-no, I don't love him!" she protested. "I love Prince Hojo."

"Then why do something as intense as exchange magical ability?" he asked logically. His eyes glittered dangerously as a realization set in. "Unless, of course, you were lying."

One of the ropes around her wrist came untied. She swallowed. Well, that plan had backfired. So much for her brilliant ideas. When Inuyasha came to save her, if he came to save her, there probably wouldn't be much left to save.

"I…"

"You were lying," he said evenly. "Inuyasha would never so something as intense and final as give you a portion of his power. He is too hungry for his own strength and command. He will stop at nothing to gain all knowing power."

"That's not true," Kagome protested.

"Oh?" the man asked skeptically and Kagome already doubted herself. "Do you ever wonder, Princess, how Inuyasha lost sight in his eye?"

Kagome had. Of course she had. She glared at the rebel, simply because she did not want to answer the man's question. He chuckled again and it was grating Kagome's already thin nerves. She just wanted to get the hell out of the darkened room. She heard voices beyond and knew it was the other rebels plotting and laughing.

"Inuyasha lost his eye in the pursuit of power," the rebel said bitterly and his face twisted into a steady sneer. "He's using you."

"I know that," she snapped. "You think I don't know that?"

"Inuyasha only wants power. There is nothing else he wants."

"You're wrong!"

"Why do you defend him?" he snapped.

Kagome bristled. "I'm not defending. But I've seen the way he treats the other bandits. I've seen the way he's treated his familiar. I know. He is not cruel. He does not seek power."

"You know nothing. These are merely observations of a petty, naïve girl." Kagome growled, but he continued, regardless, "Your devotion to him has blinded you."

"I am not and never will be devoted to _him_," she hissed, her anger directed more at the rebel than Inuyasha. She was filled with fury and her other hand was free now. She stayed against the wall. Her legs were still bound.

"Ha," he laughed. "Your heart will be broken by him. I've seen the way he works."

"And how could you possibly know anything about Inuyasha? He's not part of the rebellion."

"I know that," the man snorted. "He should have been, though. It was our idea to form the rebellion, but in the end he refused to join and left me to run it on my own. The selfish bastard."

Kagome stared at him in shock. "You're the leader of the rebellion?"

"You think I would let anyone else watch over such precious cargo?" the supposed leader said, one octave short of being gleeful. He cleared his throat. "No, I am the leader and I am watching our most precious pawn in this game of chess."

"How do you know Inuyasha?" Kagome asked in amazement.

"I am older than he is. I was there when this entire ordeal started… I was there when Inuyasha lost everything." Kagome's heart died and the last butterfly miserably died in her belly. He stared off into the distance as if counting stars that were not there. "I thought for sure he would wish to join this side of the civil war, but he refused. He's self-righteous in that way."

"You know him well, then," Kagome said and was unsure how to feel about that.

"He grew up with my father," the leader said. "We are cousins."

"What's your name?" Kagome asked, sitting up a bit straighter. Her hands slipped behind her as she attempted to untie the bounds on her ankles. They were a bit harder than her arms had been, and she moved slowly so as not to arouse attention.

His blue eyes watched her for a long moment before he smirked and stood from his chair. He turned his back to her for a long moment, moving towards a dark corner on the opposite end of the room. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his trousers.

"He's coming," he said after a long moment and Kagome realized the voices she'd heard earlier were, in fact, shouts of terror and frustration. The leader chuckled. "He sure is greedy, isn't he?"

Kagome couldn't respond because in that moment the door slammed open and Inuyasha stormed in, looking fully enraged.

"Kouga!" he shouted at the man in the darkened corner. He hadn't seemed to notice Kagome there yet, but Kagome was too busy staring at the leader—named Kouga, apparently—and trying to untie her legs. Inuyasha seethed, "You bastard! You better not have hurt her!"

"Fear not, cousin," the man named Kouga said evenly with a wave of his hand. He turned to regard the irritated wizard with his blue eyes dancing in the darkness. "I have not touched a hair on her head. She is vital for the rebellion's progression towards the kingdom."

"Fuck you!" Inuyasha snapped. "You and your fucking rebellion won't touch her."

He seemed to finally realize Kagome was there as she finished untying the last rope and standing upright. He marched towards her and wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged her close. In his right hand he held a sword, stained red. Kagome's face paled and she hoped he hadn't killed anyone.

"Still as possessive as ever," Kouga accused.

"You won't touch her," he repeated and his hold on Kagome tightened. Kagome's face turned red.

"She is a necessary piece to the puzzle, cousin," Kouga said lightly, and it seemed as if he were trying to appeal to Inuyasha's good side. His voice was soft and gentle. "If she were to join us, she could be a wonderful double agent. She could collect information on the royal family and we can make the kingdom fall to its knees."

"Shut the hell up," Inuyasha snapped and he brandished his sword, slicing through air. "She won't be joining the rebellion. She will not be working for you. She's coming with me."

Footsteps behind them alerted the group of three that Kouga's reinforcements had arrived. Men of all shapes and sizes streamed into the room, wielding weapons. Inuyasha turned to face them, with his eyes still on Kouga, and backed up slowly with Kagome clutched tightly to his side.

"Inuyasha…" Kagome breathed.

"Shut up, Kagome," he snapped.

"Inuyasha," Kouga said, sounding far harsher than Kagome had when saying his name. "Don't be selfish. Princess Kagome is vital for the rebellion's next stage. We need her to get something over the royal family. You, as well as anyone, should understand that. She's necessary for our upper-hand."

Inuyasha snorted and his hold on Kagome tightened further. Kagome wished she could breathe properly.

"You're all stupid," Inuyasha accused.

"Why, Inuyasha? Because we long for a free and fair ruler? Because we know the royal family used to be fair and just?" Kouga snapped and looked enraged. "Have you forgotten these things in lieu of your vengeance? Have you been blinded?"

Inuyasha's milky white eye flashed.

Suddenly, the clutch on her was broken and he shoved her against the wall and dove after Kouga. Kagome gasped for air as Kouga pulled a sword from his side and met Inuyasha head on. The men standing at the entrance to the large room sprung into action, drawing their weapons.

"Stay out of this!" Kouga shouted over his shoulder as he blocked Inuyasha's attacks.

Their swords clashed and it seemed to spark in the dark room. Kagome stared in alarm as they swung at one another, both just barely managing to dodge the other. Kagome grew fearful.

"Foolish," Inuyasha snapped and swung his sword. The hilt caught Kouga's shoulder and he stumbled. His sword clattered to the ground loudly, and it reverberated off the stone walls.

Kouga fell to the ground and Inuyasha pointed the tip of his sword towards Kouga's chest. The man swallowed and stared up at he wizard. The men started to charge towards Inuyasha.

He whipped his head around and growled. "Come near me and I will kill you."

Kouga, still eyeing the sword, said snippily, "Is there nothing you won't do for power, cousin?"

"Be quiet," Inuyasha snapped and poked Kouga's chest with the sword for good measure.

"We need the princess."

"I will kill all the men in this building," Inuyasha hissed and poked with his sword again. "And don't think I can't or won't. Because I can and I've done much worse before. I will be taking the princess with me, and you will do nothing to stop me."

The man on the ground glared. "You are wielding your power foolishly again, Inuyasha. Have you forgotten the lesson learned from losing your eye?"

"I will never forget," he snapped.

Kouga smirked and seemed to sit up a bit straighter. He managed to look valiant despite the sword pointed directly above his heart and the fact he was on the ground.

"In fact," the rebellion leader continued, "I was thinking of doing something similar myself. Hone in my magic, you know? It seemed to work for you well enough."

Inuyasha's eyes flared and he looked like he sincerely wanted to stab Kouga through the chest. Instead, he sneered at him angrily and his eyebrows slanted downwards. "If you do such a thing," he hissed, "you are truly a fool."

Kagome stared in shock. _What happened that made him lose his eye?_

Inuyasha stared down at Kouga emotionlessly. "You shall allow me and the princess to exit safely. You won't stand until I have gone."

"I do not bow before the likes of you," Kouga snapped.

Inuyasha smirked. "I know."

Kouga and Inuyasha were silent for a long moment as they glared at one another, their eyes clashing and sparking in the darkness. The butterflies revived in Kagome's stomach and a bead of sweat rolled down her cheek.

The tension in the room was palpable and Kagome felt increasingly uneasy with the entire thing. Everything felt strange and untrue. Kagome had no idea what was going on. Every time something began to make sense, she was thrown into a situation like this.

She was just so confused. And frustrated.

"I will kill them," Inuyasha threatened and Kagome didn't like the finality weighing in the man's voice. She swallowed.

Kouga glared, but he seemed to realize the weight of Inuyasha's words, and the truth in them. He lowered his head and made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a dark growl.

"Fine," he snapped. "Get the hell out of here."

Inuyasha grunted.

"You're making a mistake, though," Kouga accused. "We need her. Without her, we have nothing over the royal family. Inuyasha… you know how important this is. Will you turn your back on all of this? Will you turn your back on everything that's been sacrificed up to this point?"

Inuyasha stared at the wall and Kagome couldn't distinguish the look in his eyes. It was a look she'd never seen before.

Solemnly, he said, "Yes."

He took a step back and glared at the rebels surroundings him. They backed away slowly, clearing a path for Inuyasha. The man whipped his head around to stare at Kagome.

He held his hand out to her and beckoned her with a simple, "Come here, Kagome."

Kagome was rather taken aback by how calm and warm his voice sounded in comparison to his speech mere moments before. She took a step forward and moved across the long expanse of stone floor. She grabbed his hand and he instantly began walking, dragging her along with him. She ducked her head as she passed the men.

It seemed like they were really going to walk out of there unharmed until they heard footsteps behind them.

"Watch out!" someone shouted as a sword came flying towards them, the tip pointed at Kagome's stomach.

Kagome caught of glimpse of Kouga's face, and saw he looked outraged. Kagome couldn't move. She couldn't react. She stood, frozen, as it came soaring towards her.

With a flash, Inuyasha hit the sword away with his own sword. The blade sliced over his bicep and shoulder and he hissed in pain. Kagome stared in shock as a long line of blood beaded and pulsed over his reddening skin.

Inuyasha snarled and hid Kagome behind him, standing with his sword poised. "Who did that?" he hissed. "Who threatened the princess?"

Kagome stared at Inuyasha's back. She knew he was doing this simply to protect the prophecy, but a small portion of her rational mind liked to suspect he was doing it out of genuine concern for her wellbeing. That same part of her mind told her he'd never admit to it, either.

But she was more concerned with his bleeding arm. She reached out her fingertips and touched it, trying her hardest to will the blood to stop. He didn't seem to notice her touch, and she wondered if he trusted her that much to expose his back.

What had happened?

They weren't supposed to grow attached to one another, yet here they stood.

"Who did this?" Kouga shouted, and sounded almost exactly like Inuyasha. "We are honorable men here, damn it. We do not…" he faltered, looking outraged. "Who did this?"

"Shut up, Kouga," Inuyasha barked. "Don't trifle with my affairs!"

Kouga fell silent, glaring silently. The other men stood, motionless, their eyes wide. They grouped together, looking like a strange, bodiless blob.

"I'll kill you all for daring to harm her," he snapped and he raised his hand. It seemed to glow eerily in the darkness. Kagome's eyes widened and she moved forward and grasped the hand.

"No!" she said, pulling on the strong arm before her.

Inuyasha stared at her in shock. "Kagome, let go."

"No!" she repeated, ignoring his command.

His eyes narrowed. "Let go," he snapped. "Release me."

"I won't," she hissed out. "Don't kill them. Let's just go. Let's just get out of here."

Inuyasha turned and seemed to regard them all with a serious eye. He seemed to be debating doing something to them and then he shrugged his non-bleeding shoulder. He grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him.

"Fine," he hissed and sheathed his sword, glaring at them all. He waved his hand. "Be thankful she is kind. Sleep."

His hand pulsed in the darkness and the men dropped like flies. Kagome watched them in horror, despite the fact she knew he'd only made them fall asleep. Kouga put up a valiant attempt to stay awake. His head lolled and his lips parted.

Sleepily, he spoke, "You selfish little…"

Kouga dropped to the ground, his head bouncing painfully against the stone floor. Kagome stared at the sleeping men in horror before closing her eyes and looking away. Inuyasha stood in silence for the longest time, his arm dripping blood and his eyes staring off into nothingness.

It had all moved so fast, Kagome wasn't sure what happened.

She swallowed.

"Inuyasha…?"

He didn't answer her right away. He moved over the expanse of the room and approached Kouga's prone form. Kagome followed after him, her feet padding against the ground. They stared at him for the longest moment before Kagome finally ventured to speak.

"He said he was your cousin."

"He did not lie," Inuyasha agreed and kicked the man aside. Kagome frowned at him in disapproval. He ignored her. "He is the son of the man who raised me."

"He said that you lived with your uncle," Kagome granted.

"I was only eight when I came to live with him," Inuyasha said softly. "Kouga was eleven then."

Kagome looked at Kouga's sleeping face. She turned to Inuyasha hesitantly. "Inuyasha… how did you lose sight in your eye?"

Inuyasha didn't answer right away. Instead, he made to leave the building. He grabbed her forearm as he passed and drops of blood dropped onto her white tunic. He remained silent as he pulled her along, navigating through the mazelike building. Finally, they reached the outside world, but it was night out.

"How long have I been gone?" Kagome asked.

Inuyasha seemed able to deign a response for the question. "You were missing for three days."

"What?" Kagome barked. Kouga had knocked her out for three days?

"I told you to keep your face hidden for a reason, you stupid, stupid girl," Inuyasha hissed bitterly. "And this is why! I knew the stupid rebellion would want their hands on you, and I was right, wasn't I? They _knew_ that I'd kidnapped you, and they'd be looking for you. Fuck, when I was knocked out, they took you away! Do you have any fucking clue what I went through to find you again?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"And I—wait, what?" He seemed genuinely shocked she'd apologized.

"I was stupid," she said lightly.

He seemed shocked by this confession. His cheeks turned pink and he whipped his head away, looking gruff and put-upon. "Well," he muttered, "Just listen to me next time."

Kagome nodded her head and smiled lightly, unsure and unwilling to understand why her heart fluttered in her chest when Inuyasha dragged her along, still holding her hand tightly in her own. He'd saved her. Of course, he'd saved her in order to capture her, but the fact still remained that he'd come for her.

He handed her his cloak with his free hand and she obediently covered herself, thankful for a chance to cover her reddening face.


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Open Your Eyes  
Chapter Eleven**

---

She was getting sick of the reassurances. She was getting sick of the reiterations of how worried they'd been about her. She was getting sick of listening to the bandits worry over her as if she were a fragile glass doll. She was not like her pair of glass slippers. She would not break.

Their insistent pestering about her well-being was making Kagome begin to think that maybe her willpower would crack in half just from the sheer insanity of it all. Inuyasha did not sympathize with her plight and merely laughed at her expense. But this was his way, and Kagome was never truly deterred by Inuyasha for long.

Ever since the encounter with Kouga, Kagome had been quieter. She didn't like to think about all the ways she'd hindered Inuyasha and how there was only one way she helped him. The fact that she was to help him overthrow the king—or whatever fanatical idea he had in his head—did little to make her feel important. Especially whilst surrounded by worried mothers and daughters.

What bothered her the most was how worried they'd been about her face—"Oh, Princess, look what they've done to your hair! Your face! It's so dirty!"—and that her beauty had almost been destroyed by that heartless rebellion.

She got it. She was beautiful.

"But beauty is only skin deep," she muttered to herself, because she wanted to think that people liked her for her sparkling personality—her tutor's words, not her own—and not just because her hair glimmered like obsidian and her eyes like twin pools of mountain water—once again her tutor's words.

"What are you muttering to yourself now?" Inuyasha asked as he snapped his fingers together and a small spark fluttered from his fingertips and ignited the pieces of wood lying between them. He glanced up at her, and Kagome could have sworn she saw a genuine look of interest in his eyes. But, of course, this was merely a trick of the magically produced fire trying to fool her.

"I said that you're one big creep," Kagome said, unimaginative in her comebacks but not truly caring so much at this point.

She wasn't sure how to approach Inuyasha. His ability to rescue her was admirable, yes, but he'd stolen her away. And she didn't like the fact that she must be rescued _all_ the time. Sure, it was important that a male feel like his testosterone was going to good use, but, really, it wasn't like she was some useless girl locked in her room anymore. She was a princess, for crying out loud! Why couldn't she act more like one?

Inuyasha grunted, obviously unimpressed with her insults.

"Hey…" Kagome began, biting her lower lip.

"What?" he asked, staring moodily down at the flames between them.

"Do you think I'm pretty?" Kagome asked hesitantly.

He gave her a critical look and snorted. He poked at the flames with a stick. It caught on fire and he watched the burning point like it had somehow insulted him. He blew out the flame. Smoke curled from the tip before he returned it to the fire, where it caught on fire again.

"Why does it matter if I think you're pretty?" Inuyasha questioned instead of answering.

Kagome's frown deepened. "I just think that, out of everyone I know, you're the one most likely to tell me honestly whether or not I'm beautiful. Because, you know, you don't care."

He shrugged his shoulders in a non-committing way.

"Just answer," Kagome ordered.

His golden eye reflected the fire burning between them. Kagome swallowed thickly, because she hated seeing such intense looks directed her way, especially from Inuyasha. His milky eye stared at nothing.

"You're not ugly," he finally granted. "Now leave me be, woman."

Kagome looked at her feet. Any normal girl would have been happy to hear such a statement from someone like Inuyasha, or anyone else, for that matter. In fact, any normal girl would die of happiness if everyone thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world.

But she wasn't happy.

"Excuse me," she said, standing up. "I'm tired. I'm going to bed."

Inuyasha looked at her disbelievingly. It had become a bit of a norm for Kagome to pester Inuyasha until he made her go to sleep. Kagome loathed the mere idea of a 'bed time.' Kagome turned away, because she didn't like imagining that she saw concern in his eyes.

She walked away from the fire and Inuyasha watched her go.

"I'll never understand women," she heard him mutter as she walked away. He stabbed at the fire.

---

Hours had passed. Kagome wasn't sure how long, but knew she'd been sitting in the darkness for some time now. She'd listened to the sounds of footsteps as bandits retreated to their beds for the nights. She'd listened as Inuyasha talked with the other men, their voices low and rumbling, before they, too, fell into silence. She listened to the popping of the fire until it faded away into nothing more than a hiss of silence.

The world was eerily still, but Kagome relished the silence. No one would care for her until morning, and she enjoyed her moments of solitude, if only in the dead of night.

She sat alone in the caravan, watching the way the night breeze ruffled the curtain covering. She hated herself for being so weak, so useless. She hated herself for being nothing more than a pretty face.

A princess wasn't supposed to be so worthless. Her tutor was always talking about how a princess never backed down in the face of adversity and a princess was supposed to be courageous. So why was she such a failure? The only thing she was good for was beauty.

She grasped the dagger in her hand painfully. Her nails dug into her palm and she tried to steady herself. She was shaking uncontrollably.

Kagome took in a deep breath and whispered to herself, "I am not as beautiful as they think."

The blade sliced through the air and she flinched, because she had never been so bold before. She hissed quietly to herself for her gall, but did not stop. She didn't want to be beautiful. She wanted to be ugly. She wanted to be hideous.

Despite her resolve to do this, she couldn't help herself from giving a deep sigh, much louder than she'd intended.

"I want to be ugly," she hissed to herself and pressed the dagger against herself in the darkness. It sliced through like butter. She shut her eyes tightly and said, louder, "Ugly."

Her words must have come out louder than she intended, and she must have underestimated Inuyasha's ability to stay awake. She'd forgotten how silent he could be. She'd forgotten that he liked that silence.

She heard his footsteps before she saw his face.

"Kagome," Inuyasha's voice snapped out. The curtain whipped aside as he entered the caravan. "I thought you said you were going to bed, woman."

Then his eyes widened and Kagome's eyes widened in turn. The distance between them seemed to grow with every moment of strange, withered silence.

"What are you doing?" he managed to hiss as he lunged forward and tried to peel the dagger away from her. She jabbed it at him as a weapon and he backed off. "You stupid girl!"

He watched the way the black hair seemed to flutter in the air before falling to the ground in tangled clumps. Kagome stared back at him, her blue eyes wide and teary. She sniffled and tried to chop off another chunk of her hair. Inuyasha went towards her again and she kicked her foot out.

"Keep away from me," she demanded, trying to sound as princessly as she could. Inuyasha gave her a strangled look.

"What are you doing?" Inuyasha repeated. He brushed aside a large portion of Kagome's hair, lying on the ground. "You're cutting off your hair!"

"Thank you, I wasn't aware what I was doing!" Kagome snapped as she chopped off the final portion of her hair, leaving her with messy, uneven hair. It came to her chin now, and her head felt lighter, without having to carry around that weight.

"What the hell possessed you to chop off your damn _hair_?" Inuyasha snapped.

"Because!"

"That is _not_ a reason!" he shouted. "It's not like I care about what the hell you do to your hair or anything. But they're going to blame _me_ for not treating the princess well! They'll think I'm abusing you or something!"

"You are!"

"What? I am not!"

"You are too!" Kagome accused, tears falling down her cheeks. She watched as Inuyasha visibly grew uneasy as each tear splashed on the floor or in her fallen hair. "You treat me terribly one minute and the next you act like you might actually care about me! And you won't tell me _anything_ about what's going on and supposedly affects me. You may not have touched me, but you're certainly doing something to put my mind in turmoil!"

"Kagome…" Inuyasha said bitterly.

"And one moment you call me a stupid girl or just 'princess', and the next you're calling me by name again!" Kagome cried. "Stop confusing me, you jerk!"

"Kagome…" Inuyasha continued, as if he hadn't heard her. He took a step towards her and Kagome gestured the knife at him. He paused. "Kagome, come on. Stop this. You're hysterical."

"I am _not_," Kagome snapped, waving around her dagger for good measure.

"Kagome, we can't choose whether we're considered beautiful or not…"

"Well, then, I'll make them think I'm ugly," Kagome snapped and pressed the knife against her cheek. She really was hysterical, but she didn't care. Why couldn't they just treat her like a person? Maybe they'd treat her normally if she were ugly. "No one loves someone with scars."

She'd been harboring these feelings for so long. Every time she heard someone call her beautiful, she felt another little hole form in her heart. She wanted them to talk about her personality. She knew she was beautiful. Inuyasha never failed to tell her that her beauty was the reason Hojo chose her.

But what about her other traits? Why didn't anyone ever comment on those? Why was she only considered beautiful? _Why?_

"Maybe they'll treat me normally if I'm scarred," Kagome said again.

"Shut up," Inuyasha snapped and he moved quicker than Kagome would have ever given him credit for.

Within a moment Inuyasha was beside her, gripping her wrist holding the knife and jerking it away from her face. Their noses were dangerously close, and Inuyasha seemed to realize this because he jerked his head back and gave her an indescribable look.

"Don't scar yourself, Kagome," Inuyasha whispered, and his voice gave her a strange comfort.

"Stop it! You just don't want to have a disfigured princess walking around!" Kagome snapped.

"Kagome… you need to calm down." His other hand came up and touched her cheek and she stiffened. He brushed aside her black hair as he dragged the dagger away from her. He studied it before tossing it idly to the other side of the caravan. Kagome would have to go through Inuyasha to get to it.

His fingertips on her wrist and cheek suddenly disappeared and he sat back on haunches, observing her critically. Tears still ran down Kagome's cheeks, but she seemed a bit saner.

He reached out a hand and touched her forehead and Kagome felt the familiar sweeps of calm ebb over her. Her blue eyes locked on him, and he returned her gaze steadily.

"Feeling better?" he questioned.

"I think so," she muttered, suddenly embarrassed about her behavior. She fingered her hair and felt saddened that she'd gone so far as to cut it off. She felt lighter, though.

"Now, mind telling me what the hell that was all about?" Inuyasha asked critically.

Kagome stared moodily at the wall. "I'm angry."

"Well, I gathered _that._"

"I'm angry because… I don't want to be the most beautiful person anymore. I _hate _it. I want people to see me, beyond the beauty. Damn it, I'm sick of everyone treating me like I'm going to break or that I actually care about what I looked like. Has everyone forgotten that I'm _not_ fragile? Has everyone forgotten that I've survived this long on my own?"

Inuyasha sighed and, surprisingly, nodded his head. Kagome stared at him in shock. He wasn't saying anything, but Kagome knew he was listening.

This was surprising, since Inuyasha had about as much sensitivity as a rock.

"And I'm angry because you won't tell me anything about what's going on. I feel stupid and useless. The only thing I've got going for me, it seems, is my stupid beauty. And I don't _care_ about that. I could be the ugliest girl in the world and I'd still want to know."

"Beauty, Kagome, is in the eye of the beholder," Inuyasha soothed.

Kagome made a small snort that could have rivaled Inuyasha's. She stared at her hands and an awkward silence ascended upon the two in the caravan. She wondered if everyone else had heard their screaming. Probably.

"Fine," Inuyasha said with a sigh, defeated. "What do you want to know?"

Kagome whipped her head up in surprise, staring at him in shock. He gave her a withered look, as if to say, _Come now, it's not that surprising. _

But it really was.

She swallowed. Oh, what to ask! There were so many questions she wanted answered.

She leaned forward in her eagerness and reached out a hand. He stiffened as she approached, and her fingertips touched his cheek, just below his white eye.

"How did you lose your eye?" she whispered.

He turned his face away, his black bangs hiding his white eye from view. His golden eye studied her for the longest moment before it fell shut and he sighed.

"It is the price you pay for daring to play with dark magic," Inuyasha said after a pregnant pause.

"Dark magic…" Kagome breathed, extracting her hand. His eyes opened again and he gave her another one of his intense looks.

"You wanted to know," he defended.

"Yes," Kagome agreed in a whisper.

"You know what dark magic is?" he asked quietly. But he didn't wait for Kagome to answer and simply said, "Searching for ways to better yourself without once thinking about others and those you hurt in the process. It's dark. That's dark magic. And you always pay for it, in the end."

He looked lost as he spoke. His words dimmed into silence.

"What did you… what did you do?"

He sighed. "I summoned a demon."

"Demon!" Kagome gasped. "I thought those were simply myths."

"No," he said, bitterly. He shook his head to reiterate his point. "No, they're real. They don't survive well in this realm. You have to summon them. And once you summon them, you need to find a suitable way to keep them alive."

"Did yours…?"

"I summoned a demon in order to take its powers," Inuyasha said softly. "But it was stronger than I expected it to be. It overpowered me. It possessed me."

Kagome clapped a hand to her mouth to keep from gasping again. She stared at him in shock.

His lips twisted into a bitter smile. "I wanted to be stronger. That's why I summoned the demon. I wanted, more than anything, to be strong enough to return to the castle and kill those who murdered my family. I just wanted to have the strength and power to defeat them and avenge my family."

"Inuyasha…"

He cut her off, "Be quiet, Kagome. You wanted to know. Now you know. I killed people. The demon possessed me and I killed people. I had no control over my body. The demon had a field day with my body and I slaughtered hundreds."

He pursed his lips.

"The royal family was thankful for an excuse to banish me. I didn't blame the people for fearing me. Those that knew it was a demon… they are with me now."

"How did you get the demon to leave?"

"While it had control over my body, I still had control over my soul. After months of torment, I managed to summon Shippou…"

He trailed off and Kagome swallowed, feeling her heart clench and throb in her chest.

"Shippou knew what to do. He had to pull the demon out of my body. And there is only one way to grasp onto its shadow."

"Through the eye," Kagome realized.

Inuyasha closed his white eye and touched the eyelid. "Yes," he breathed, "through the eye. The eyes are the gateways to the soul, and the demon was trying to control all of me. Shippou had to dig into my eye and pull the creature out."

"What happened after that?"

"I don't remember. It was excruciatingly painful, to have a demon pulled from the gateway in your eye," Inuyasha explained. "Shippou says that he fought it and it died after running away, because demons cannot survive on their own in this world. They need a vessel."

"And you were… safe after that?"

"Not quite," Inuyasha said bitterly. "Even now, its presence still courses through me. I am not, technically, a demon. I am merely an empty portal for a demon long ago, and I still harbor this constant reminder of its possession."

"You still have its powers?"

Inuyasha laughed bitterly. "I sought power and I received it. But always at a price. There is always a price. I'm stronger now. I can sense things better, and I move faster, too."

"Don't I know that," Kagome muttered.

Inuyasha ignored her. "My eyes used to be violet."

"What?" Kagome asked in alarm.

"My eyes. Before the demon possessed me, my eyes were violet. Like my mother's. Now, they're golden. They're a constant reminder of my foolishness. I've harbored these eyes for years now. It will never melt away. Golden eyes are the sign of a devil. All demons have golden eyes."

"Oh…" Kagome whispered, unsure how to respond to this statement. A shiver racked her body. She wanted to say something to comfort Inuyasha.

He ducked his head and his black hair hung over his eyes. She watched him and thought her heart would break.

She inched forward and he sensed her movement and lifted his head, staring at her. His eyes questioned her movements, daring her to move closer to him. Kagome dared.

"You poor soul," Kagome whispered and reached out her hands, grasping his cheeks. He opened his eyes, filled with anguish from upturned memories. She drew him close, their eyes locked. "You poor, poor soul."

He smiled softly and his eyes seemed to glow in the darkness. They were close enough to kiss. Was Inuyasha going to kiss her? Why was she thinking about that?

Instead of kissing her, Inuyasha leaned forward and pressed his forehead against hers. He drew away, and grasped the hands on his cheeks and pulled them away silently. His hands were large and rough compared to hers, and his thumbs ran over the roughness on her palms.

"You are kind, Kagome," he said lightly. "You are truly a beautiful soul."

Kagome was about to protest this before he shook his head.

"It doesn't matter how beautiful you may or may not be on the outside," he said, "people are not attracted to you because of your beauty. They are attracted to you because any fool could see how kind you are."

"Inuyasha, I—"

He squeezed her hands and released them as he stood up. They flopped down into her lap and she stared up at him in surprise. This entire evening was just one big surprise after another. Kagome was sure she would have died from shock by now.

"You have to be kind, if you can manage to comfort someone like me," he said. "I stole you away, and yet you can feel give empathy? It matters not whether you want to be beautiful or not… you cannot hide it."

He nodded his head at her bewildered look and his face turned red.

He said nothing more as he dipped down at the other end of the caravan, picked up the dagger, and left her alone in the silence. She stared after him, feeling heavier than she'd have liked.

This situation was getting dangerous. She couldn't stay.

---

She cursed as she tripped over her feet.

_How did I ever manage to be graceful at the ball if I can't even run away properly?_ Kagome wondered as she raced through the dark, enchanted forest. She believed herself to be running in the right direction. _I can't stay there. I can't. It's too dangerous. I'll just wait it out until my birthday, and then I'll return to Hojo. Just to be safe._

She was being stupid. How could she doubt her future husband, merely by the words and statements of a _bandit? _This most surely was a sign of weakness. It just had to be.

She tripped over a tree root and fell to the ground. She hissed in pain.

_I have to leave,_ she told herself and wondered why she felt so guilty about leaving behind that place. She shouldn't be attached to Inuyasha or anyone there. _There is nothing there that is holding me back. There's no basis for this uneasiness and guilt._

But she had a terrible feeling. Of course, it wasn't bad enough that she would turn around and go back. No, far from it.

She only ran faster.

Her lungs screamed for air, and her muscles cramped uncomfortably as she ran. She kept trying to tuck her hair behind her ears, but it was too short to stay. She swallowed and longed for a drink of water. She heard running water, and knew she was close to the river.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of running, but was probably only fifteen minutes, Kagome slowed to a halt and leaned against a tree, trying to return her stolen breath. Panting, she plotted her next move.

Slowly, she sank to her knees and rested her forehead against the tree bark, finding some comfort in the stilled silence of the forest, sans her heavy breathing. The forest felt cool beneath her fingertips. She gulped in air hungrily.

Her heart pounded in her chest and she touched her fingertips to the jewel Midoriko had given her. It didn't pulse or throb, but Kagome hadn't expected it to. She doubted that the thing ever worked, because she was certain that this was the right thing to do, and it was staying stubbornly cold.

After several longs minutes of heavy breathing, she seemed to return to the normal. She didn't try to stand up fully just yet, and simply leaned against the tree, with her knees bent.

_I have to get out of this forest,_ she thought dimly. _I need to find a hiding place or Hojo. I can't let Inuyasha get me._

"It's for the better this way," she muttered to herself.

"What makes you so sure?" a voice hissed behind her and she whipped around. She shouldn't have been surprised to see him.

Inuyasha was panting, much like she had minutes ago. He doubled over, his hands on his knees and panted.

Kagome took this moment to bolt away like a bat out of hell. She heard him yell behind her, but didn't stop or turn around.

"Kagome!" he shouted and knew he was chasing after her. She kept running. "Kagome, please wait!"

The princess didn't care if the bandit was begging for her, she would not stop. She kept running, her heart throbbing painfully and her legs screaming. She clenched her hand over her heart and her eyes fell shut briefly before she reminded herself that running into a tree whilst her eyes were shut would be very counterproductive.

"Kagome!" he shouted and he was close now, close enough to touch her.

His hand grasped her wrist and tugged her back. She whipped around, unaware until that moment that tears were running down her cheeks and her face was flushed. She tried to run away but his grip on her was firm.

"Why are you running away?" he demanded. "Is it because of what I told you?"

"No!" Kagome protested. She tugged. "I'm leaving because I can't stay with you! I can't stay here! My place isn't here. You stole me away. I'm going back. I can't wait for Prince Hojo anymore."

His lips tightened but he did not back down like she half expected him to, what with the mention of Hojo and everything. He tugged on her again and stared down at her fiercely.

"Stay," he commanded.

"I can't!" she protested.

"Please," he whispered and Kagome was taken aback by his usage of the word for a second time. She breathed deeply, trying to return her heartbeat to normal and her flushing face to a relatively normal color.

"I can't," Kagome protested pathetically. She tried fruitlessly to tug away from Inuyasha. His hands gripped her forearms and kept her close to him. She didn't like the closeness of their proximity. "Please… let me go."

"I won't," he said firmly. "Sango gave a reading tonight. The Four of Cups."

"I don't know what that means!" Kagome protested.

"She also drew Strength."

"I don't know what that means, either! Please, let me go. Please, let me go!" She tried to pull away.

"Kagome, damn it, listen to me!" Inuyasha shouted. "I'm trying to tell you something important here."

"Then spit it out!"

He stared down at her in alarm and she stared back. He looked vulnerable. Perhaps sharing the demon story with him had made him think that they were friends or something. Kagome didn't know and didn't want to find out. She turned her eyes away, because she couldn't bear to look Inuyasha in the eye.

"Kagome, the truth is that I—"

"Princess Kagome!" a voice called and the two whipped their heads to the right as a figure emerged from the darkness of the forest. Kagome's eyes widened.

"H-Hojo?"


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Open Your Eyes  
Chapter Twelve**

---

"H-Hojo?" Kagome questioned in shock before shaking her head and reiterating, "Prince Hojo!"

"Princess, I'm so glad that I found you!" the prince said, and did look very relieved to see her. His eyes darted to Inuyasha, holding Kagome to him, and his eyes darkened. "Inuyasha… so you're here, too?"

"What are you doing here, Hojo?" Inuyasha questioned as he repositioned himself to stand in front of Kagome. He grasped the sword at his side—which he'd taken to always having ever since Kagome was stolen away by the rebellion.

"Searching for the fiancée you stole away from me, bandit," Hojo said and drew his own sword before pointing it at Inuyasha. "Release her to me."

"Inuyasha…" Kagome whispered, grasping his tunic. He shrugged her off and took a step towards Hojo, his sword pointed outwards to meet Hojo's.

"I will not," Inuyasha vowed, "ever release her to your arms, fool. Do not think I am unaware of where your true affections lie."

"Princess Kagome," Hojo addressed her over Inuyasha's shoulder. "I am so glad that you are safe. I pray that he hasn't subjected you to…" He paused. "Princess, what has he done to your hair?"

Kagome's hand instinctively went up to her face. Did Inuyasha dye her hair purple or something? Oh, yes, her hair was cut. By her own hand. She swallowed.

"No, I did this," Kagome said.

"Whatever for, Princess? Your hair was so beautiful!" Hojo protested, looking scandalized and outraged. "Has he done anything else to you?"

Kagome paused. She wanted to tell Hojo how cruel Inuyasha had been to her. She wanted to tell Hojo how he'd tried to make her believe that he was a bad guy. After all, Hojo loved her and she loved him, right? She should have no fears of telling him the truth.

But, the truth was…

Inuyasha hadn't been cruel. He hadn't treated her like a princess, yes, but she hadn't wanted that, anyway. He'd healed her of aches and pains. He'd fed her. He'd given her a place to sleep. He'd saved her more than once.

Inuyasha hadn't been cruel.

"Come here, Princess Kagome," Hojo commanded, offering his head.

Inuyasha stepped to the side, hiding Kagome from view while brandishing his sword. "Stay away from him, Kagome," he commanded. "Don't go near him."

"How dare you speak to the princess in such a manner?" Hojo said, irate. His own sword gleamed in the moonlight. "You truly have no ounce of chivalry and nobleness to you, do you?"

"I'm nobler than you!" Inuyasha snapped and clanged his sword against Hojo's. The young prince jumped back, looking alarmed.

"My my," Hojo said lightly. "Who knew that you were so defensive, brother?"

Kagome did a double-take. Her eyes widened in shock, wondering if perhaps that had been a simple slip of the tongue. But, no, Inuyasha and Hojo acted like this was common information. Inuyasha looked angered, yes, but it wasn't shocked anger.

"Brother?" Kagome squeaked.

Inuyasha glanced back at her, looking surprised, as if he hadn't remembered Kagome was still standing there.

"This is what I was going to tell you," he told her before turning around to glare at Hojo again. "You are not my brother."

"Half-brother. Brother. It is the same thing, in the end," Hojo said with one of his famously charming smile.

"Half-brother!" Kagome squawked.

"We have the same mother," Inuyasha said bitterly.

"But you said that Hojo's family killed your family!" Kagome protested. "How can that be so if you are from the same family?"

Inuyasha gave her a withered look, looking like he wanted to break down crying and strangle her at the same time. He shifted and jostled his sword towards Hojo, but the prince was keeping his ground, his eyes on Kagome.

"His father stole my father's kingdom," Inuyasha said harshly.

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked, her eyes widening even further. She suddenly wanted to sit down. He stared down at her, as if he were trying to teach an inferior creature of the ways of the world. He sighed and glared at Hojo off to his right.

"I am not just the bandit king," Inuyasha said darkly. "I am the true king of this kingdom. I am the rightful ruler. And his family," he said, jerking towards Hojo, "stole everything away from me."

Kagome stared at him, flabbergasted. She worked her mouth opened and closed. As if she hadn't had an emotional and informational overload as it was! Now she was learning a whole new side to Inuyasha that he'd somehow managed to keep hidden. He was a _king?_

"Princess, please don't listen to him!" Hojo protested. Inuyasha launched forward and swung his sword towards Hojo.

"No, stop!" Kagome shouted. "Please, tell me what is going on."

Inuyasha gave her an indescribable look, and she wanted to go over and hug him, because he seemed so sad. But, of course, she would never hug Inuyasha, especially in front of her fiancée.

"Kagome…" Inuyasha whispered as he approached her. She fell to her knees, so overcome with emotion.

"Inuyasha!" voices shouted in the woods and the three already there looked around in alarm. Inuyasha sighed in relief as bandits emerged from the darkness, surrounding Hojo and pointing their weapons at him. "We're here, Inuyasha," Rin said, grasping a bow to her chest. "We've come, as you commanded."

"Inuyasha…" Kagome whispered, grasping his tunic as he approached. She stared at the ground. "You're the king?"

A hush seemed to fall around the large group of people standing in the enchanted forest. The branches high above them rustled with a night breeze. Kagome refused to release Inuyasha's tunic.

"Yes," he said without pausing. "I am the rightful king of this land."

"It can't be true," she muttered.

"It is true, princess!" a man shouted. "We are loyal to the true bloodline. We are traitors to the Charming's crown, but we have always been loyal to our true king."

Somehow, despite Kagome's hesitancy to believe it, it made sense that Inuyasha was the king. The bandits had said they were loyal, despite being banished. Kouga had said that the rebellion should have mattered to Inuyasha. Inuyasha was the true king and his kingdom had been stolen from beneath his feet.

Inuyasha was a king.

Somehow, this knowledge seemed hard to swallow. She'd accepted his status among the bandits, but among the kingdom, too?

"They took the crown from you?" Kagome whispered. "This is what you're trying to gain back?"

"Yes," Inuyasha said evenly.

"This is why you lost sight in your eye?"

"Yes," he said again.

Kagome swallowed. "How could they take it from you? How can Hojo have so many siblings if your mother, and your family, is dead?"

"My mother still lives," Inuyasha said miserably. "Technically."

"Don't listen to him, Princess!" Hojo shouted and ignored jabs of weapons from the bandits surrounding him. "He's trying to brainwash you!"

"You would know of brainwashing!" Inuyasha roared as he snapped around and snarled at Hojo. "That is what your damned father did to my mother! How dare you stand there and act innocent? You know what you did!"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried out, still holding his tunic sleeve.

"Kagome," Inuyasha whispered as he knelt beside her, staring at her critically. "You trust me, remember?" Kagome nodded, bitterly. "Then please, trust my words."

Kagome hesitated and then slowly sad, "I do."

"Princess!"

"Shut up," Inuyasha snapped over his shoulder before returning his attention to the shivering princess. "Kagome," he whispered, his voice far gentler now, "Do you want to hear what I have to say now?"

Kagome nodded.

"Hojo is my younger half-brother. He and I share a mother. My mother was the princess of this kingdom, and her father, my grandfather, had no male heirs. So my father, the youngest prince of a neighboring kingdom, married her and became the ruler of this kingdom."

Hojo made a small cry from behind, as if he wanted to protest, but one of the bandits had jabbed his belly with the blunt end of a spear.

"I was not, originally, supposed to be king. I was the younger of two sons. My brother, Sesshoumaru, was going to be king after my father's passing. I did not want to be king, so I never harbored ill thoughts towards my brother."

"But…" Kagome whispered.

"But," Inuyasha said, a tone of agreement in his voice, "Hojo's father ascended the throne. He was a member of the court, and one of my father's most trusted advisors. They were alike in many ways, looks and ideas. My father trusted him. He could have been my father's twin. He killed him."

"And… and your mother and brother?"

"My mother… He tortured and blackmailed her. She lost her will to live. She lost her mind. She is merely a body moving through life half-dead after losing her one true love and her two sons. She was led to believe that Sesshoumaru and I had been killed." He paused and clenched his eyes shut. "And I never realized. I rarely saw my parents. I was always being tutored and… you know… castle life. You rarely get to see those you care for."

Kagome knew that all too well. After all, she'd go days, sometimes even weeks, without seeing Hojo, despite the fact they were together in the castle. Kagome frowned.

"It went on for years. This… imposter posing as my father. We weren't allowed to see Mother, and in the random moments when I would see her, she wouldn't recognize me… her mind was too far gone."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Kagome interrupted, her eyes widened.

"Because you need to know this, so you won't protest when I kill them all," Inuyasha said seriously. Kagome wished that was a cruel joke, but Inuyasha said it all in proper seriousness. Kagome swallowed.

"I don't…"

"Let me finish," he said, and actually sounded soothing despite the subject manner. Kagome nodded and Inuyasha continued, "This went on for the longest time. My brother knew it wasn't Father. He was intelligent, and strong." A look of admiration briefly crossed Inuyasha's face. "Sesshoumaru realized and tried to warn me."

"How long…?"

"By this time, I already had several half-siblings, and assumed they were my full-blooded siblings. How was I to know?" Inuyasha clenched his eyes shut.

"What happened to Sesshoumaru?"

"Hojo's father killed him. Right in front of my eyes."

"No…!" Kagome said, shocked. Inuyasha nodded.

"He tried to warn me about how it wasn't Father and how Mother was gone forever. And then he was killed, stabbed in the back by _that man_. I watched him choke on his blood and die in my arms."

Kagome wasn't sure what to say. There was an eerie silence among the bandits and Hojo. The prince hadn't tried to raise his voice in protest. Perhaps even he was unaware of the reach of his own father's hand. They listened to Inuyasha's words as he explained everything to her. This was what she wanted, right?

"I lost it then."

"That's right," Hojo shouted, remembering himself. "I remember that. I was younger then, but I watched you go on a rampage. You killed everyone in your path! You tried to kill my father."

"I was only eight," Inuyasha hissed, sending Hojo a glare. "And my entire world was stolen away from me."

"You were young and weak," Hojo continued, "and you couldn't think to overpower father and his army. You were captured and thrown into the dungeon for months."

"They tortured me," Inuyasha said bitterly. "I won't say how. But… no one deserves to be locked away."

Kagome remembered all too well Inuyasha's reaction after he realized he'd tied her up. So, it came back to the fact his mother was tortured and he was tortured. He was truly a caring man. Why had it taken Kagome so long to realize?

"One day… after months of isolation, my uncle managed to find me."

"Kouga's father?"

"Yes," Inuyasha said with a nod. "He saved me when he learned of my fate. I was to be executed in that dungeon, and he got me out. I grew up with him after that, along with Kouga. I considered him a father, for I never truly knew my own outside of the tapestries and castle walls."

"You don't need to say any more," Kagome cried out, tears collecting in her eyes. She turned her face away in shame, unable to bear hearing the rest of his words. But Inuyasha seemed deep in his tale and didn't want to back out of it.

The rest of the bandits' heads were bowed, though their weapons were still poised at Hojo. Hojo looked beside himself with fear and curiosity. Had he never heard Inuyasha's tale either? It was, after all, his father who did all this, supposedly. Kagome supposed it wasn't Hojo's fault.

"When I was fifteen, the king learned of my existence. He hadn't forgotten the words in the prophecy. He'd thought I was dead, but when he learned I still lived, he sent out his soldiers and killed Kouga's father. He nearly killed me and my cousin, but we escaped."

"You should have died!" Hojo snapped, which was not something Kagome would have ever dreamed her prince would say.

"I should have," Inuyasha agreed, a strangled grin rippling across his face. He turned slowly towards Hojo and his sword glinted in the moonlight. "But, no, I'm alive. All the people I knew and loved are dead and it's all your family's fault. And while you may be innocent for the destruction of my family, Hojo, you are doing something far eviler than that. That is something I cannot and will not forgive."

He approached Hojo, looking just as kingly as Kagome knew he was. He looked just the same as he always had, but now she knew that he was a _king_. He wasn't just a bandit leader, no, he was His Royal Highness.

"You have charged me for crimes I have not committed," Inuyasha accused darkly. "You have taxed my people. You have killed my people. You are plotting to take the life of more innocents. You are plotting to exploit the princess."

His sword flickered and pressed against Hojo's neck. The man on the ground stared up at the rightful king with a look of untrammeled fear in his eyes. Inuyasha still had his strange, sardonic grin on his lips and Kagome grew worried.

She stood up and wobbled towards him, grasping his tunic again. "Inuyasha, don't…"

"Don't touch me, Kagome," he snapped and Kagome, in her alarm, released her hold on him. He was still glaring down at Hojo. "Do not try and deny me my vengeance. Do not try and deny me this, woman. You have no power here."

Kagome stared at his back in shock. He was a king. And she was a fool.

"Don't!" Kagome demanded.

"Now," Hojo shouted, which was a strange thing for Hojo to be yelling.

There were rustling in the bushes and while Kagome did not sense any immediate danger, Inuyasha saw something she didn't and raised his weapon to descend down on Hojo's neck.

"Inuyasha—!"

"Wait." Surprisingly it wasn't Kagome who spoke, but a regal looking man as he approached from the shadows, a gun poised at Inuyasha's head. "I've heard quite enough of this tripe. Drop your weapons, all of you."

"Who the hell are you?" Inuyasha commanded in what would have been a kingly manner on anyone but him.

"He is my most trusted advisor," Hojo coughed, backing away from the sword while everyone else's attentions were on the solider. "He was instructed to hide in the shadows until I gave the signal."

After the man with the gun made his appearance, more soldiers melted in from the darkness, all wearing the royal kingdom's colors and symbol. They stood, encircling the area the bandits stood with the two royals. Kagome stared at them all in shock.

She was saved.

Why wasn't she happy?

"Drop your weapons," the man said smoothly, pointing the gun at Inuyasha's forehead. "Or I'll blow your brains out."

Inuyasha's lips wrinkled back into a sneer. "Don't try me. I am a magic carrier."

"Then," the man said slowly, turning his gun so it was pointed at Kagome. The princess' eyes widened and Inuyasha snarled. "Don't think that I won't shoot her, either. I won't kill her, only wound her. If I so much hear a magical syllable, I'll blast a hole in her shoulder."

Inuyasha snarled again, looking angry. With an angry growl, his sword was sheathed at his side and he stood, defenseless.

"Now, now, drop the scabbard to the ground," the leading solider said snidely. Inuyasha did as he was told.

"Inuyasha, don't…" Kagome began but it was too late, as the rest of the bandits were dropping their weapons.

As if like lightening, the soldiers descended on the bandits, pressing their weapons against necks and temples. Some men were not as tactful, merely hitting the bandits in the back of the head as they fell to the ground, unconscious.

Kagome was about to say more until she saw Hojo come up behind Inuyasha and press the blade of his sword against Inuyasha's neck. She yelped in surprise and watched as the bandit king stiffened.

"Threatening to kill the crowned prince is treason, brother," Hojo said darkly. "I'll behead you right here. Or should I wait until we return to the kingdom, where I shall have you hanged?"

"Prince Hojo!" Kagome cried out, making to move forward.

"Do not come near, Princess," Hojo commanded. "He may try to put you under his spell again. Do not believe these lies he's been telling you. He is nothing more than a soulless murderer."

Inuyasha stared at Kagome for the longest time, and in the darkness his golden eyes almost looked lavender. But it was a trick of the light, and his demon eyes still stared back at her. She took a hesitant step back.

"Secure the princess," Hojo demanded and the soldiers moved towards her. "And kill the rest."

"Wait!" Kagome demanded and she turned towards her fiancée, her eyes wide. "You can't kill them!"

"They threatened the crown, Princess," Hojo said calmly, and it was disturbing to hear how unperturbed he was with the idea of killing all the traitors around him.

"Kagome, don't," Inuyasha instructed harshly. She saw a thin line of blood forming where the sword was pressed too closely to his neck.

"You can't hurt them," Kagome insisted, ignoring the two men's words. "You can't hurt them!"

"They kidnapped you, Princess," the chief advisor said lightly.

"I know that, but you can't kill them."

Inuyasha was staring at her like she was an idiot. But she didn't care.

"Promise me you won't hurt them," Kagome pleaded. Why was she negotiating like this? "Please, don't kill them."

Hojo stared at her in alarm, as if she were possessed by something. Kagome was nervous about this herself, truthfully. But she wouldn't back down. Inuyasha was staring at her, and Kagome wasn't sure what it was that she saw in his eyes. She wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to pursue those thoughts.

"Kagome…" Inuyasha began.

"Promise me that you won't kill them," Kagome repeated in her most commanding voice.

Hojo regarded her for the longest moment before he snarled and Inuyasha choked. "Fine, I promise you, Princess."

Kagome looked to Inuyasha, who gave her an estranged look. She took a step towards the two men and Inuyasha's eyes fell shut.

"I'm sorry," she whispered miserably. Inuyasha said nothing. "Forgive me."

"You're doing exactly what he wants," Inuyasha said sadly, bitterly. He looked defeated.

"Don't even think about using magic," Hojo warned his half-brother before flinging him down onto the ground and planting his boot on the true king's back. "You'll regret it if you do."

Kagome wanted to reach for the bandit king, but knew that she couldn't. She stood sadly as the men approached her and Prince Hojo shouted orders to the soldiers to return to the camp nearby and prepare for the princess' return to the kingdom.

As Kagome was led away, she glanced over her shoulder and her eyes locked on Inuyasha's. He looked like he wanted to say something, but something equally as powerful was holding him back. She gave him the saddest look she'd ever mustered in her life, and regretted trying to leave him. But why was she guilty? Why was she unsure and uncertain?

She was back in the arms of her prince. He'd pulled through and saved her in the end. She should be happy. But, Kagome realized, without any surprise, the stone on her chest seemed colder than usual. But that might have just been her wishful, pained heart crying out for something that was never there to begin with.

The moon hid behind a cloud.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Open Your Eyes  
Chapter Thirteen**

---

"Princess, it's such a shame what they did to your hair," one of her ladies-in-waiting said miserably, inspecting the short crop of black hair on top of her head. The royal hairdresser had tried his best to make the hair look even and presentable, but it just wasn't the same, he claimed.

Currently, her cropped, short hair curled around her chin and wavered in the slightest breeze. Her ladies-in-waiting had tried their best to make it look as beautiful as her long hair—their words, not Kagome's—and covered it with a sheer veil that glittered in the sun. they lined the crown of her head with sparkling beads and jewels.

"Yes," Kagome said softly as the ladies-in-waiting puttered around her, fixing the long expanse of fabric draped over her or adjusting her short and simple hairstyle. She didn't speak much.

It'd been a week since she'd reappeared in the capital, leaving the enchanted forest forever. Hojo had promised that she would never again be subjected to the hideous outside. Kagome wasn't sure if she appreciated that promise or not. She didn't say anything, because Hojo wasn't listening anyway.

Her heart didn't throb anymore when she was with Hojo. After they met and fell in love, just thinking about him would make her cheeks turn pink and her hands begin to shake. Just speaking with him was enough to make her float on cloud nine for the rest of the week. But she felt as cold as the jewel hidden beneath her dress.

They'd taken away her bandit clothing. She wasn't sure why she wished it'd return. She had no emotional attachment to such things, she claimed silently. But she had grown comfortable in the clothing. Now, she felt too restricted in the long dress she wore.

And now here she sat, draped in white fabric with jewels and diamonds sewed onto the silk and satin. She was getting married today. The date was set. Apparently after her disappearance, the ladies-in-waiting relayed, Prince Hojo was beside himself with grief and longed to have his bride returned to him.

There was nothing wrong with the dress. On the contrary, it was by far the most beautiful dress she'd ever seen. It seemed so white it turned blue, and brought out her eyes—according to her ladies-in-waiting. It clung to her and trailed down her body, accentuating her figure. The sleeves rolled from just below her shoulders to her fingertips. It was the envy of all the women in the castle.

So why wasn't she happy?

"It's just pre-wedding jitters," one of the ladies-in-waiting said logically.

Kagome wasn't so sure. She spent the majority of her time sitting at her window, watching the way the enchanted forest seemed to beckon her from its vantage point far beyond. Kagome longed to go out there and see it one last time. She knew that Inuyasha wouldn't be coming for her. She couldn't blame him.

_Breathe,_ she reminded herself, because she feared she would stop at any moment. Everything in this castle seemed unnatural, especially when she was in it. _This is what you wanted all along. This is what you were running away to._

She clenched her eyes shut, ashamed. She hated that she felt so isolated and alone in this castle. This was supposed to be her home. This was supposed to be where she belonged. She hadn't belonged with her stepmother, and when Hojo proposed to her that day in her house, with a glass slipper the bridge between them, Kagome had been positive that her days of misery were over.

But, here she was, her heart heavy and her eyes sad. What did she want? Why couldn't she figure out what her heart was trying to say, as it waged forever in a tumultuous war?

She wanted someone to be brutally honest to her. Without Inuyasha around, she was practically drowning in the sugar-coated lies. She was drowning in everything about this castle life. She didn't belong. She felt alone. She felt forgotten.

As Kagome pondered all this, her ladies-in-waiting stood up. Kagome turned to watch them idly, and they mistook her look for horror.

"We shall return soon, My Lady," the head lady-in-waiting said with a dainty curtsey. "We won't leave you unattended for long."

"Besides, My Lady," her second lady-in-waiting soothed, brushing back straight black hair, "No one can come to kidnap you all the way up here in this tower. You are perfectly safe."

So, they'd mistaken her for some kind of fearful mouse now? The entire castle and kingdom was under the impression that she'd been ill-treated and abused during her kidnapping. She'd tried to tell Hojo that she didn't want such lies spread around, but Hojo merely stated that she shouldn't feel so much compassion towards killers.

The girls left the room and Kagome was left alone, swimming in her thoughts. She stared at the horizon and sighed. This world she was in now didn't have to be alone. Was she condemning herself to this life?

Her fingertips traced over the designs curling around the fabric she wore. She was silent for the longest time, and she welcomed this silence. She didn't have to hear castle protocol or the rumors of Inuyasha's villainy.

"What does this all mean?" she questioned lightly. She lifted her head. The sun twinkled back at her. "Why am I not as anxious to see Hojo? Why do I not get weak at the knees and faint at heart?"

She didn't like the realization that was dawning on her. She didn't like the fact that she was beginning to believe Inuyasha's words. After Hojo came to save her, he'd spent the entire trip home denouncing all validity and truthfulness of Inuyasha's statements. He'd tried to tell Kagome that all Inuyasha knew was lies, and he was just searching for a way to have something against the royal family. He told Kagome not to condone Inuyasha, because he was simply searching to use her. But Kagome couldn't erase that look in Inuyasha's eyes. She couldn't erase those intense moments when he seemed so raw and honest.

The thought of those looks made her heart thunder in her chest and she knew her cheeks were turning pink without even looking in the mirror. As she gazed dully out the window, she suddenly stiffened.

She straightened and turned towards the mirror, taking in her reflection. Misty blue eyes stared back at her, her cheeks hued a delightful pink rose. She reached out trembling fingers and touched her cheeks. Then, slowly, the jewel at her chest.

"I love Hojo," she said as firmly as she could muster, and the words tumbled from her lips like stones. Her trembling fingers couldn't grasp the jewel and it fell from her hands. It didn't matter, though, because Kagome knew it would be cold.

She sighed and picked up a bottle of perfume.

"This is ridiculous," she told her reflection. "I love Hojo. Nothing about that has changed. I was away with Inuyasha for a long time, but the only thing that proves is the power of Hojo's love for me and mine for him over distance. Besides, it's not like I love Inuyasha or anything."

She stood up firmly, set in her determination and strode over to her window again, staring at the horizon. Everything was going as it was supposed to go. She loved Hojo and she was going to marry him.

Kagome tumbled to her knees and rested her chin on the stone windowsill. "Oh, who am I kidding? Anyone with eyes can see that I don't love Prince Hojo."

She squeezed her eyes shut and breathed in deeply.

"Inuyasha was right. It wasn't love at first sight," she said miserably. "It wasn't even love at fifteenth sight. It was just… Prince Hojo."

She felt the pressure behind her eyes but refused to cry. This was not a situation where a princess should cry, especially Kagome. But… She wasn't a princess. She didn't deserve this. She shouldn't be here. Hojo didn't deserve to have a fake princess who didn't even love him.

"God… I'm such an idiot," she whispered painfully. "I should have known I didn't love him."

"I'm glad we've finally realized it," a voice said above her. Kagome would have known that voice anywhere.

"What are you doing here, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked her knees, and congratulated herself on sounding nonchalant and uninterested. She didn't dare lift her head, because then the king would see her blushing face.

"I'm here to rescue you, obviously," he returned evenly as he stared at the crown of her head. He sat on the large windowsill. He'd climbed in through the window. "Are you an idiot, Kagome? Seriously, martyring yourself out for the sake of my men. Truly foolish, especially since you're the one they wanted."

"And they've got me now." The anchor around her heart tugged painfully.

"But not for long," Inuyasha promised and grasped her chin, forcing her to look up at him. "I'm here to take you away. Will you come with me, or am I going to have to force you?"

"They'll never let you leave. How did you get in here, anyway?" Kagome asked dully, staring at the bandit king. "I'm getting married to Hojo. The wedding is this afternoon."

"At the cathedral?" Inuyasha asked skeptically.

"Yes," Kagome said uneasily, unsure what answer the man was looking for.

Inuyasha nodded his head and seemed to think this information over for a long moment before answering, "All right then."

"What's going on? What are you doing here?"

"I'm taking you away, Princess," Inuyasha said, laughter in his voice when he said her title. Kagome glared at him. "I won't leave without you. I won't let them complete their desired prophecy. Haven't you realized it yet that the royal family isn't all that great?"

"If what you say is true, then obviously yes," Kagome said. "But I've only ever really spoken with Princes Hojo and Naraku. I can't be sure that, perhaps, after all this, you're just trying to trick me and play me for a fool so that you can unlock the prophecy."

"The outcome of the prophecy is the only thing I desire from you," Inuyasha said logically and tapped her nose with his index finger. "But if you don't trust me up to this point, then nothing I can say or do will remedy that, will it, Princess?"

"Please don't call me that," Kagome whispered. "I'm hardly deserving of the title."

"Okay," Inuyasha said with a shrug. "Just hold tight, Kagome. I'll come back for you. Wait for me, because I will come for you."

"I'll… I'll wait," Kagome promised. The anchor tugged again and started dragging her down.

Inuyasha didn't say anything as he turned around, exposing his back, and climbed out her window. Kagome wondered how he got up here. She summed it up to his demon powers. He turned around to face her, and he had a strange half smile on his face.

"Good," Inuyasha said with a nod. He leaned in through the window and Kagome, for one bewildered moment, thought he would kiss her.

His right hand touched her forehead and the other touched her stomach. She jerked away but he gave her a pointed look and she stilled, staring at him in alarm. His eyes fell shut and a strange calm fell between them. But it seemed different from the other spells he'd preformed on her.

They stood there, completely motionless, for the longest time. She swallowed thickly and stared down at him, trying to relax but feeling her skin burning beneath his touch. He breathed slowly and for a moment she wondered if he'd fallen asleep.

Finally, after an eternity, he pulled away and Kagome felt rejuvenated.

"What was that?" she breathed.

"A spell," he said mysteriously. "It will help you in the future, if Shippou and Sango have anything to say about it."

"B-but what was it a spell of?" Kagome murmured, feeling strong and weak at the same time.

"You'll see," he said, giving her a mystified look. "Just trust me. It will bring you luck."

Kagome stared at him, her eyes widening. He gave her that dazzling smile of his that she so rarely saw before he dropped down from her window and onto a balcony below. He waved up to her before jumping away from view, hidden in the early afternoon shadows cast by the sun.

She watched him go until she knew she wouldn't see him again. She pulled her head back inside and felt a strange sense of wonder overflow her. Why did she want Inuyasha to take her away?

She didn't love Hojo, and recognizing that fact seemed like tearing away a portion of her soul. She'd been so sure for so long that she'd been in love with Hojo. And, now, she was nothing but a fake princess in a castle.

"I don't love him," Kagome said and she felt lighter admitting it. "I don't love anyone."

She returned to her vanity mirror and picked up the perfume and stared at her reflection.

"He came to save me," Kagome realized. "Inuyasha came to save _me_."

She sprayed the tiniest hint of perfume, because she knew if she didn't her ladies-in-waiting would drown her in the scent. It misted in the air and sparkled around her. She couldn't smell it, but didn't want to, anyway.

"He's not as bad as I once thought," Kagome realized. She saw the stables below and remembered when she'd first met Inuyasha. Back when she thought he was a simple stable boy. Back when she thought she was in love with Hojo. Back when they knew nothing of one another. "He was my first friend…"

She paused and licked her dry lips.

"He's… more than he seems." Everything about Inuyasha was a paradox. One moment he was angry and the next he was kind. He was powerful, yet gentle. He was strong and kingly, yet nothing seemed to be too small for him.

Kagome chuckled to herself, and brushed her black hair away from her eyes.

"I don't see why he thinks no one can love him," Kagome said sweetly to herself. "What's there to not love?"

She regretted these words as soon as she said them. There was a flutter of butterflies in her stomach. Her heart pounded. Her cheeks turned pink. Her eyes misted over. She couldn't breathe.

"Oh my God…" she whispered and the bottle of perfume slipped from her fingers.

She was so blind. She was so stupid.

"No, it can't be," she said to her reflection, but it seemed just as bewildered as she did.

A chill ran down her body and she suddenly felt dead cold. She stood up, knocking over her chair in her alarm and raced away from her reflection, not wanting to see the emotions in her eyes. She scurried around the room, tugging on her hair.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" she cried out in a mantra. "It can't be! No, no, no! It just _can't_."

But who was she kidding?

She loved him. Kagome loved Inuyasha.

But was it love? Kagome couldn't know for sure. She pictured Inuyasha's face in her mind, and she felt her heart clench. She wasn't in love. She was falling in love. Somehow, the fire had been lit and it was only a matter of time before it became a raging fire. She was falling in love with a bandit king.

"You lied to me, Inuyasha," Kagome whispered as she clenched her hand above her heart, as if that would alleviate the pain there. She grasped the jewel. "Love sparks. It sparked for me, and now it's growing into something I cannot control."

She raised the jewel to her lips and kissed it.

"I don't care if you don't work," she murmured, "I'm falling in love with Inuyasha. Please, glow. Please, grow warm."

Nothing happened and Kagome was distressed. A knock came at the door. Her ladies-in-waiting had returned. She ignored the knocking and pleas of her servants to open the door for her. She clenched the jewel tightly.

"Please glow. I'm falling in love with Inuyasha," she whispered painfully. It didn't glow. It never did.

Finally, the ladies-in-waiting opened the door without the princess' permission. She stared at them dully as they apologized profusely for disobeying her. They looked all over Kagome, straightening her veil, readjusting her dress, spraying her with more perfume, and presenting her white slippers.

"My lady, please, it is time to go," her chief lady-in-waiting said, tugging the princess along.

_How…?_ Kagome thought her eyes still widened. _How can I possibly be falling in love with Inuyasha? How can that even be possible? _


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Open You Eyes  
Chapter Fourteen**

---

The jewel wouldn't glow for her, and Kagome couldn't begin to fathom why. Her ladies-in-waiting stood around her. They'd moved from the tower to the cathedral on the other side of the capital. They'd ridden in a large carriage, and her ladies-in-waiting twittered at all the crowds that swam in the streets, trying to capture the princess' attention. But Kagome was distracted.

Was she not supposed to love Inuyasha? Was she delusional about that, too? Kagome couldn't be sure anymore. She thought she loved Hojo, but that turned out to be completely wrong. How on earth was she supposed to listen to her heart when her heart wouldn't say what it wanted? How could she be sure that her love for Inuyasha wasn't superficial and foolish like it had been for Hojo?

Now, she sat in a backroom to the cathedral. Through the stone walls, Kagome could just make out the sound of the royal guests sitting in the pews and waiting for the wedding. Kagome wondered who would be sitting on her side of the aisle. The only two she wanted to be there were both dead. And she didn't even want to be here.

"You must be so happy, My Lady," her chief lady-in-waiting bubbled, looking thrilled for the future queen. Kagome nodded numbly. "To marry someone as handsome and kind as Prince Hojo is truly a dream come true, is it not?"

"I suppose it is," Kagome said lightly. But it wasn't her dream. Not anymore. This was someone else's dream, and she did not deserve to be here, surrounded by ladies-in-waiting and wearing a wedding dress. There was some place else she wanted to be. But she couldn't escape, and no one would save her.

"I can hardly wait to see you married, Princess," her third lady-in-waiting gushed out happily, looking beside herself with happiness. Kagome smiled, but it felt sour on her lips. She quickly returned to her stoic expression. Her ladies-in-waiting didn't seem to notice. "Within the hour, all your dreams will come true."

The ladies twittered happily and finished the last minute touches on Kagome's appearance before leaving the room to give the future bride a moment alone to contemplate her life—their words, not Kagome's.

She sat dimly, feeling alone and forgotten. She bowed her head and the beads threaded through her hair clacked and sparkled in the dim candlelight. She clenched her hands together. She didn't want to be here. She didn't deserve to be here. But, her jewel would not pulse. Perhaps she was supposed to do this. Perhaps it was her duty, as a princess, to marry Hojo regardless of where her love lied. She wished she could explain this to Hojo, because he did not deserve to be treated like this by her. As far as Kagome could tell, Hojo was innocent and just pulled into this whole prophecy thing unwillingly.

"My Lady," a new servant whispered as she cracked the door open. "It is time."

"Oh…" Kagome said, trailing off because she could not think of something to say to that.

---

First step.

She breathed in deeply, clutching her hands tightly, the white knuckles hidden beneath equally pale roses. The aisle seemed to stretch on farther than she thought possible.

Second step.

What was she doing here? She didn't deserve this—Hojo didn't deserve this.

Third step.

It was her duty. The jewel wouldn't pulse, and Midoriko hadn't been wrong yet when it came to her goddaughter.

Fourth step.

Was she destined to marry Hojo and be unhappy forever? Perhaps she would learn to love him.

Fifth step.

Perhaps she would learn to slowly forget Inuyasha.

Sixth step.

Her heart throbbed. She nearly stumbled. She stared at her feet and was unable to stare at the groom on the other end of the aisle. The world had stopped breathing.

Seventh step.

She'd stopped breathing.

Eighth step.

She wanted to leave. She wanted to run away.

Thousands of steps. It felt like hundreds of thousands of steps. She moved slowly, as if wading through an invisible force. She almost tripped. She almost passed out. She almost cried. But she kept moving, step by agonizing step. This was her fate. This is what she'd chosen.

The faces staring at her were all unfamiliar and unrecognizable. She didn't know these faces. She didn't want to know these faces. These faces were judging her.

She swallowed and took her last step forward.

The last step.

Hojo smiled at her warmly, but it did nothing to her throbbing heart. Her heart was not beating for him. Her cheeks were not blushing out of pleasure. Her eyes were not sparkling from happiness. She felt empty. She felt cold. She felt alone. So, so alone.

The priest before them cleared his throat and it seemed to cut through the tense silence shrouded in the cathedral. Slowly, with a wispy, spidery voice, the man began to speak. To Kagome, it felt like a foreign language.

"We are gathered here today…"

Hojo was wearing a crown. He looked regal. He looked like he was already ruling the kingdom. He smiled at her again, his eyes crinkling in the corners. Kagome flushed with shame.

"To honor…"

Hojo hadn't done anything to her to deserve this. He deserved someone who loved him. Someone who honored him. Someone who could be a proper princess. His love was as misguided as her own had been. But it was too late to stop it. She couldn't speak out. Her tongue felt paralyzed.

"Binding promise…"

The priest was speaking but Kagome couldn't listen, wouldn't listen. She looked around widely, her view skewered by the white veil draped across her eyes. She couldn't see anything but the prince's smiling face. Fear gripped her.

"Prince Hojo…"

She wanted to run, but her feet wouldn't obey.

"Princess Kagome…"

Her heart cried for someone who wouldn't answer.

"Heavenly bond…"

Kagome wobbled on her frozen feet, her eyes opened wide but unseeing. It took her entire willpower not to follow over in a faint. She had to accept this as her fate. This was what she'd chosen to do, this is what Midoriko helped her achieve.

But why wasn't she happy? Why couldn't she be happy?

"Princess?" Hojo's softy whisper stirred Kagome from her thoughts and she started guiltily, gazing from the prince to the priest, who both regarded her curiously. She realized, dully, that the priest had asked her for her answer. She wet her lips.

"I…" she began, her heart pounding. This was her responsibility. This was her destiny. "I d—"

Suddenly, there was a loud crash and a scream pierced the silent church air. In the back of the church, Kagome's ladies-in-waiting scurried away from the doors, as they fell from their hinges and clattered on the stone floor. Wedding guests sprang to their feet and Kagome's eyes widened.

"Inuyasha!" Hojo shouted angrily before Kagome could call to him.

Sure enough, the king stood in the doorway. Behind him, the bandits stood, armed and looking only mildly confused.

Instead of even acknowledging that Hojo had spoken, Inuyasha strode forward confidently, his black hair framing his face and his lips quirked into a tiny smile. He walked down the aisle as if exploding doors off their hinges during a wedding was a regular occurrence with him.

"Don't come a step closer!" Hojo commanded. "Guards!" he shouted. "Seize him!"

"They're already taken care of," Inuyasha promised in a tone that would have sounded sweet on anyone else. He continued moving forward until he stopped a couple feet before Hojo and Kagome. He tilted his head to the side, one of his hips jutting out as he withdrew a gun from his side and pointed it tiredly at Hojo.

A gasp rippled through the crowd and Kagome watched as Hojo visibly stiffened.

"You have no idea how happy it would make me to pull this trigger," Inuyasha said smoothly, and such a statement from his lips sent a shiver down Kagome's spine. "But I'm here for the princess."

"How dare you!" Hojo said, outraged, but didn't dare take a step forward with the gun pointed at his forehead.

Inuyasha, with the gun still poised wickedly on Hojo, slowly turned his head towards Kagome, who stood rooted to the spot. Their eyes locked and Kagome felt her entire body surge with warmth. She'd once felt that feeling when she looked at Hojo. How quickly things changed.

"Princess," Inuyasha said lightly, extending his hand, palm up, towards Kagome. "Shall we?"

Kagome stared at the proffered hand before glancing at her husband-to-be. Hojo looked like a wild animal pinned down. She swallowed thickly and took a step forward. Hesitantly, her hand unclenched from the bundle of flowers.

"Princess, no!" Hojo gasped. "Don't let him trick you again! Don't let him put a spell on you!"

Kagome paused and felt hundreds of eyes on her. The bandits, the wedding guests, Hojo, Inuyasha… they were all looking at her.

Her hand extended further. She ignored Hojo's protests.

His hand was so much larger than hers, just as large as she remembered it. Their hands, both toughened from years of manual labor, touched and Kagome's heart leapt into her throat.

Inuyasha tugged her forward softly and began backing away, nodding towards Sango and Miroku, who stood close by. His gun was still pointed towards Hojo, and the prince didn't dare move. With his guards incapacitated, he was completely defenseless as his sworn enemy tugged away his bride for the second time.

"Let this be a lesson to you, Hojo," Inuyasha called as he neared the charred, broken-down doors. Hojo glared angrily at his half-brother, but Inuyasha didn't seem to notice or mind. "You can never take anything away from me. I'll always come to take it back." His eyes flashed and he smirked wickedly. "I will claim everything that is mine."

And then, he put his gun back to his waist, dug around in his pocket and extracted the same black powder he'd produced the first time he'd kidnapped Kagome. Only, this time, Kagome wasn't protesting. She was a bit unnerved by how natural it felt to be by Inuyasha's side.

With the black powder in his palm, Inuyasha blew and whispered, "Don't close your eyes."

And then they were gone.

---

The bandits had made good timing. As soon as Inuyasha, Kagome, and the rest of the bandits left the cathedral, Hojo was quick to sound the alarm and proclaim that the princess had been kidnapped again. The group of misfit bandits retreated deep into the enchanted forest and Kagome though that, maybe, the forest was on their side and making them move faster than the soldiers that were undoubtedly on their trail.

After hours of running without wagons or horses, the hodge-podge of bandits entered their hiding place. It was a large clearing, following along the riverbed. There was a cliff with a thundering waterfall. Kagome stared at it as, one by one, the bandits slipped behind the waterfall by traveling across wet and mossy rocks.

"Where is this place?" Kagome shouted over the roaring falls as they, too, slipped behind the falls and entered a large cavern that stretched on into the darkness.

Fire burst from Inuyasha's palm and he led the way through the darkness, his followers trailing behind his fading light. He didn't answer her right away; too busy navigating through the din. There was an endless amount of twists and turns and Kagome just knew it had to be Inuyasha's magic that was keeping them from getting hopelessly lost.

"It's a make-shift headquarters as we ride the waves of the prophecy," Inuyasha explained lightly as he made one last turn and entered a large, opened cavern. The ceiling was so high above them that not even Inuyasha's fire could reach its peak. "We're deep inside the hills covered by these forests. Hojo will never think to search for us here, and, even if he does, he knows nothing of these tunnels."

"Wow," was all Kagome could manage to say.

"Go get changed," he commanded and the women hustled around Kagome and whisked her away in order to change her out of her completely ruined and dirty wedding dress. They presented her with the normal bandit clothes and Kagome felt much more in place than she had in the castle. Was this where she belonged?

Sango sat beside Kagome, a lantern between them. Kagome eyed the woman wearily, knowing what was coming. Whenever Sango came to speak with Kagome, it was in order to discuss what Sango had acquired from her tarot reading. All around her, bandits settled in for the day, some darting down passages to guard the secret of the tunnels, and others to tend to their children and other business.

"The cards spoke to me today," Sango said lightly.

"Ah," Kagome replied expectedly.

"I drew Judgment again," Sango whispered lightly, "and The Wheel of Fortune."

Kagome frowned at her feet, not knowing what these cards symbolized. She tilted her head to the side to watch Sango, and the woman simply stared into the unbreakable darkness. Lanterns dotted the walls.

"I'm sorry," Kagome said after a moment. "I never understand what you're trying to tell me."

"I know," Sango said. "I would explain it to you, but it isn't my place. I would be interfering with the inevitable if I were to tell you what I see. But, never fear. If all goes as it should, you have nothing to worry about."

"Oh," Kagome said uneasily.

"We came to get you today at the cathedral," Sango said, changing the subject. Kagome nodded her head mutely. "Why didn't you put up a protest when Inuyasha came for you?"

Kagome felt her cheeks blush. She'd been wondering that very same thing. The reasons she uncovered weren't satisfactory. She was supposed to marry Hojo—if not out of love then at least out of duty. But as soon as Inuyasha showed up, all that promise of responsibility flew out the window.

"You only had eyes for him," Sango murmured and Kagome jumped.

"W-what?"

"When he came for you. You only had eyes for him. It was as if no one else was there in the cathedral, and it was simply you and Inuyasha. I wonder… did he notice this, too?"

Kagome batted her short hair from her eyes. She stared at Sango. "I don't know what—"

"Because he only had eyes for you, too," Sango said, with the tiniest hint of amusement in her voice.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kagome mumbled, her face burning red.

"Do not underestimate what I say, Princess. Shippou and I… we know what is to happen, at least fragments of your future. We know these things. Shippou saw your arrival and knew where you were. I know what will happen, as far as I can see."

"I don't understand…"

Sango didn't seem the least bit surprised by Kagome's confusion. "What I'm saying, Princess, is that what your heart desires… do not ignore that desire."

Kagome thought numbly of the cold jewel against her chest. "I don't know what my heart wants."

"Just listen, quietly," Sango advised. She stood up in a wave of fabric and fragrance and smiled down at the princess. "I must take my leave. Inuyasha will arrive for you soon."

Kagome stared at Sango's retreating back until she disappeared into the darkness that even the lantern could not reach. Kagome stared after her, her eyes wide and surprised. She swallowed thickly. If Sango noticed, and if what she said was true…

She shook her head, and clenched her eyes shut. She was looking into things that were not there. Inuyasha may care about her, but their relationship ran in the vein of a prophecy, not love. Besides, Kagome wasn't even trusting of her own feelings. She'd so quickly fallen out of love (or never been in love to start) with Hojo, and to suddenly think she loved Inuyasha seemed to bastardize her own feelings. Plus, the jewel hadn't pulsed. Perhaps she was just delusional.

As if called by her turmoil of emotions, Inuyasha dissolved from the darkness. The lantern light bathed him in a warm glow as he approached her. She stiffened and then quickly moved aside when he flopped down next to her. He looked tired.

"Setting up barriers," he explained when he noticed Kagome's troubled expression. "Someone with ill intent won't be able to get in here." He swiped a hand over his forehead, wiping away the sweat there. Apparently magic was hard to conjure. "Of course, it doesn't completely prevent them from entering, and 'ill intent' is a vague term. To them, if they're simply coming for the princess, that is not ill intent. If they come for the intention of killing me, that's not ill intent either, it's righteous slaying of a murderer. If they come to kill my men, then it's ill intent."

"Oh," Kagome said, unsure. "I don't know much about magic."

"Yeah, yeah," Inuyasha said with a wave of his hand. "The sun has set. It's impossible to tell around here, since we're so deep behind the falls. You should sleep. You look tired."

"Not tired," Kagome defended, staring at her feet. She glanced at him. "Inuyasha… did you know that I was coming?"

"Huh?" Inuyasha asked, his eyebrows arching upwards. "What are you yapping about now, woman?"

"Sango says that Shippou knew I was coming," Kagome explained calmly. "Is that true?"

"Shippou knew that _someone_ was coming that had to do with the prophecy. He knew your face, vaguely, but didn't know your name or who you were." Inuyasha shrugged. "That day when you stumbled into the stables, Shippou appeared afterwards and told me that you were the key. I'd been in the castle walls for years trying to find some clue as to who the key would be. I knew it would be Hojo's bride. And I was right. Who knew the key would come to me instead of me to the key?"

He laughed then and Kagome turned her face away in a huff. She crossed her arms. "I just wanted to be friendly."

"You were probably so bored you would have befriended a stump," Inuyasha accused.

"Well, you're about as intelligent as a stump, so I guess you're right," Kagome snapped back and smirked wickedly.

Inuyasha snorted and rolled his eyes. They lapsed into silence. Kagome couldn't tell if it was a comfortable or an uncomfortable silence. She could see his white eye staring blankly ahead and she felt another wave of sympathy for all the things he'd gone through in his life to get to where he was today.

"When the time comes…" Kagome started. "Would you… Will you kill them all?"

He stiffened and didn't answer her, but that was answer enough for Kagome. The princess wasn't sure if she wanted Inuyasha to give his reasons. Exiled king or no, she didn't like the idea of Inuyasha taking vengeance on the royal family.

"I wonder, would you be protesting if they still had you? Would you still be protesting come your birthday when you're killed?" Inuyasha asked lightly.

"Huh?" Kagome squawked in surprise.

Inuyasha gave her a withered look. "Come now, you know the first two verses of the prophecy. You know you're the key to the prophecy. Don't tell me that you haven't figured it out yet?"

Kagome frowned, having a feeling that, due to Inuyasha's tone, she really hadn't figured it out. She gave him a strangled look, as if she were truly trying to understand what he was saying. He sighed irritably and brushed back his black hair from his eyes, staring off into the darkness. He was quiet for the longest time, perhaps because he didn't want to tell her or, perhaps, because he was collecting his thoughts. Kagome watched him, a slow sense of dread creeping into her as she watched him. He inhaled sharply and shook his head sadly.

He recited, "_When her jeweled life is ripped away._"

Kagome recognized it as a line from the prophecy. She already knew what this meant, but decided to play dumb by asking, "So?"

He grunted. "What do you suppose that means, Kagome? Having a life ripped away… that doesn't sound like something you can survive, does it?"

Kagome's face paled. "They're going to kill me."

"Smart girl," Inuyasha said lightly.

Kagome felt that same sense of dread overflow around her. She felt like she was drowning, unable to reach back and save herself. No one would save her. She was going to drown in this realization.

"In order for them to achieve their dream, they will kill you," Inuyasha said. "Having the perfect kingdom… that is far more important to them than the death of an innocent girl… a girl who simply wanted to live happily ever after."

She felt a shiver run down her body, from the crown of her head to the tip of her toes. She shivered and drew into herself, wrapping her arms around her legs and pulling her knees to her chin. She sat there, staring at the dirt on the ground and not saying a word. They sat in an awkward silence, Inuyasha opening his mouth once or twice to say something before sitting back with a defeated sight. This realization stretched between them and Kagome felt like crying. But she wouldn't. She didn't even know for sure if Inuyasha was telling the truth. She trusted him, but, she also trusted Hojo. He hadn't done anything wrong. How was she to know that, perhaps, they didn't plan to kill her at all?

Inuyasha watched the shivering princess before sighing in aggravation, removing his cloak, and draping it over her shoulders. "Here," he commanded. "Don't freeze."

"I don't need your charity," Kagome said miserably.

"It's not charity," Inuyasha said. "It's taking advantage of your captors by exploiting them and making them feel bad about themselves. You know how to lay on the guilt tripping with all that shivering, Kagome."

"Shut up," Kagome mumbled.

"Never," he countered. He stood up and stretched, popping some bones in his back as he did so. Kagome flinched.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Open Your Eyes  
Chapter Fifteen**

---

_Please let this go on forever,_ Kagome thought as she rolled over on her sleeping mat. She was trying to sleep, but failing miserably. _I don't know if I have the strength to go against Hojo._

Perhaps, if she was lucky, she could sink into the shadows and become nothing more than a memory in the kingdom. She didn't want to have anything to do with the prophecy. She didn't want to have anything to do with marriage. She just wanted to be free. She wanted to be Kagome.

_Would you be proud of me, Father?_ She thought as she stared at the hard-packed ground. _Would you agree with my choices?_

She missed her father terribly. He'd been a merchant, and a kind man. And now he was gone forever, and she was alone in the world. She'd never known her mother well. Her father was her everything, and when he died, she had died, too. Her stepfamily, they had treated her so cruelly. They'd treated her less than dirt.

_But I never have to return to that life,_ Kagome reassured herself and a shadow of a smile tickled the corners of her lips. _I am free from their tyranny now. But… I am a caged bird._

She sat up, the blanket rolling down her body and collecting in her lap. The small alcove she slept in was dark. Down the tunnel was the main area where the other bandits stayed. Kagome felt warm and comforted in this soothing darkness. She could feel the magic lingering in the air, undoubtedly Inuyasha's successful attempts to make this hidden sanctuary comfortable and protected. She felt safe here. But she was still not free.

_I cannot go outside, or else I may be seen,_ Kagome thought to herself, recalling Inuyasha's warnings from earlier that evening. _I cannot go back to that castle. Hojo deserves someone who can love him, and I am unable to do that._ Her heart throbbed when she thought of the reason. _My allegiance has shifted. I can no longer pledge my undying love and admiration for Prince Hojo. It simply cannot be done._

Despite the fact that she knew this, Kagome could not stop her heavy heart from beating. She was still in a pit of massive indecision and insecurity. She knew it was her duty to marry Prince Hojo, as she had promised to him and to herself. Yet, she couldn't see herself doing something like marriage simply for the political agenda. She tried to listen to her heart, but it was as silent and unsure as ever.

"What am I going to do?" Kagome whispered out, and her voice sounded harsh and broken against the magically fortified walls.

She felt this strange warmth fall over her and she happily embraced it. She closed her eyes, and bit her lip. She tried to focus, tried to recall the thoughts that would lead her to the right decision. She couldn't continue to live in this strange sense of insecurity. She had to move forward.

A blinding white light pierced through her eyelids and Kagome's head rose. She blinked and tried to adjust to the magnificent light.

Standing in the alcove with Kagome, Midoriko smiled. She looked just as majestic and gorgeous as she always had, a white angel in a world of darkness. Kagome sat up straight once she recognized her fairy godmother and she tried to stand, but her head felt too dizzy from her own jerky movements.

"Do not stand," Midoriko soothed and her voice pacified Kagome.

"I'm so glad you're here," Kagome admitted, looking up at the spiritual being in wonderment, her eyes reflecting the dying rays in Midoriko's hair.

"Your heart called to me," Midoriko agreed, her enigmatic smile still playing across her face. "And I have answered that call. What is it that ails you, my child?"

Kagome's hand went to the jewel around her neck and she held it tightly. "I… I've admitted that I don't love Hojo anymore."

"Yes," Midoriko said, her voice soft and feathery. "I knew it you would eventually."

"If you knew…" Kagome said slowly, "why did you not tell me that I wasn't meant to love Hojo? Why did you go to all that work to make me go to the ball, if it would end up being nothing?"

"Love, my darling, is a magical and mysterious thing," Midoriko relayed, not looking one bit bothered by Kagome's questions. "No one can determine how exactly the heart will feel for someone. The heart listens to nothing but itself. I cannot dictate what your heart will decide, nor can you."

Kagome stared at the jewel in her hand, an empty, cold lump.

"The gravity of love, my darling, can ground even the lightest of dreams," Midoriko whispered. "People believe that love can tie you down, and destroy you… but love is powerful. Love cannot be played with."

"I don't understand why I don't love Hojo and love—" she cut herself off. For some reason, she didn't want to quite admit that she was falling in love with Inuyasha.

Midoriko seemed to know what Kagome was going to say, despite Kagome's cut off. She continued to smile her strange, knowing smile, giving her godchild a mystified look. She tilted her head to the side, as if surveying something beyond Kagome's realm of understanding. Her entire being seemed to be floating in the room, and her body produced an unearthly light in the small den Kagome sat in.

"The heart works in mysterious ways, Kagome. But, truly, you never knew Hojo," Midoriko explained calmly. "You fell in love with the idea of him. You fell in love with the idea of someone loving you, someone holding you, someone cherishing you, and someone protecting you. You did not truly fall in love with Prince Hojo."

"The appearances, then," Kagome said miserably.

"Yes," Midoriko admitted. "Appearances are dangerous things. We can hide behind our masks and our façades. It is hard to see a true face behind miles of misconceptions and beliefs. Be wary of appearances, my child, because they are sly."

"Midoriko… is there such a thing as love at first sight?" Kagome whispered.

Midoriko was silent for a long moment as she tried to think of a suitable answer. Her body floated around the room, and she glided over to Kagome's side. She did not kneel, and Kagome didn't expect her to. Kneeling was nothing something such an enigmatic creature could or would do.

"Love is mysterious," Midoriko repeated. "I cannot answer this question without my own bias."

Kagome nodded, half expecting such an answer from the woman. She was silent for a long moment, mulling over her thoughts. She tilted her head upwards, meeting the strange, glassy gaze of the fairy. The woman smiled again.

"I love Inuyasha," she whispered, her voice nothing more than a broken breath. "Why won't the jewel pulse?"

Midoriko's gaze shifted to the pink pearl at Kagome's throat. Her smile never faltered, but her eyes seemed to soften as she returned her attention back to Kagome's ocean blue eyes. The girl stared at the older being expectantly, the anticipation gleaming in her endlessly opaque irises.

"Are you sure you love him?" Midoriko asked instead of answering.

Kagome's eyes widened. "Well… I… I've never felt this way before, not like when I was with Hojo. But it… my heart hurts when I'm not with him. I want to see him happy."

"Do you?" Midoriko questioned.

Kagome nodded. "I've been here for several days now, and I ache when I'm not with him."

"Are you sure, my darling, that these feelings are not dependency and a need for reassurance? How do you know that the feelings dancing within you are that of love and not of something that can be easily confused as love?"

Kagome looked stricken. "Well, I guess I don't know."

"As long as there is doubt in your heart," Midoriko reassured, "the jewel shall not pulse. When you are absolutely sure of your intentions, of your heart's intentions, and of the one wish that will bring you happiness, then it shall pulse. Only when you can cast aside all of your misconceptions, all of your insecurities, all of your restraints… then it shall pulse. You are still chained, my child. You are still running away. It shall pulse when you are completely free to make your heart sing. It shall pulse when you are no longer afraid."

"You mean… I have to have no doubt in my mind," Kagome muttered.

"Yes," Midoriko said again, "Your heart must be screaming your truth, and you must be able to believe its words. Listen to your heart. It is not silent, it is merely whispering. It is waiting for you to listen. It is waiting for you to hear and understand."

Kagome nodded her head, staring miserably down at her hands. She clasped them tightly and brought them to her chest, the fingertips resting over the jewel on her skin. She clenched her eyes shut, and her eyebrows slanted downwards in thought as she concentrated hard on her abilities, straining to hear the distant thumps of her heartstrings.

Midoriko touched Kagome's shoulders. "It will happen," she promised, "you must give it time."

"I'm running out of time," Kagome whispered. "My birthday is coming. The end of the prophecy is fast approaching, and I have no idea of the outcome."

"This is something you must ask the bandit king," Midoriko whispered. "Rather, the king."

"Is he… Midoriko, is he speaking the truth?" Kagome questioned, staring up at her fairy godmother. "Are the things he's told me about his past true? Is Hojo's father truly that terrible of a person? Is… is Hojo a terrible person, too?"

Midoriko's eyes glittered mysteriously. Kagome stared at her expectantly. After a pregnant pause, Midoriko spoke, "Do you trust him?"

"With… with my life," Kagome admitted and blushed as the weight of that statement hit her.

"Then… do you have doubt in his words?"

"I just… I just don't know who to believe! I cannot imagine Hojo doing anything terrible, but if this prophecy is true… but, is it really something evil that Hojo is doing? Is Inuyasha justified? Or is he blinded by his own rage?"

"I cannot say anything that will interfere with the future," Midoriko admitted, the smile dancing across her lips. "I will say, Kagome, that Inuyasha is not foolish, and he does not do things without having his reasons. Whether those reasons are good reasons, and whether those reasons are accurate, however, is something that you must determine for yourself."

"I don't know what to believe anymore."

"And that is why your jewel does not pulse," Midoriko supplied wisely. Her smile widened and it soothed Kagome. "Speak with Inuyasha. Make him tell you what you really want to know."

"I know I should…" Kagome began, but Midoriko was beginning to fade away. "Wait! Please, I still have so many questions! There is still so much I need to know!"

Midoriko shook her head, her body fading away into nonexistence. "I cannot stay, Kagome. Listen to your heart. It is telling you everything you need to know. You just need to hear it and understand it. Good luck, darling, good luck."

And in a burst of shining sparkles and flashes of light, Midoriko disappeared.

---

It was always hard to tell when daylight fell in the cavern. Others were allowed to go outside—as it was necessary to gather food and water—but Kagome hadn't seen the sun since her wedding day, and Inuyasha wasn't about to let her out of the protective cave anytime soon. She could hear the waterfall in the distance, and that was always a reassurance that she wasn't locked away in perpetual darkness. The lanterns helped, too.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome called as she emerged from her bed chamber at the crack of dawn. Not many were up yet, and the lanterns dotting the walls flickered and cast shadows on the stones on the ground. Inuyasha was beneath one of the lights, looking over some long scrolls of information. He looked up at Kagome approached and gave her a quizzical look. Kagome ignored it and said, "I want you to tell me exactly what's going on and I'm not taking no for an answer!"

Inuyasha steadily rolled up the scrolls he'd been reading and stacked them in a neat pile on the table that separated the two of them. He looked at her evenly and said, with only a tiny hint of amusement, "No."

"Inuyasha," she growled out, warningly. "I think I have a right to know these things."

"I don't think I have anything to say to you," Inuyasha said evenly as he began walking away, leaving the safe sanctuary of lantern light. Kagome wasn't sure where he was going, but Kagome wasn't about to let him get away.

"Listen to me," she snapped out, tugging on the long sleeve of his white tunic. "I will _not_ take no for an answer."

"I heard you, and I gave you my answer," he said, still sounding as calm as ever. "Are you stupid? Do you need me to repeat what I said?"

"I know you said no," Kagome groused, still holding onto his shirt sleeve. "And that's why I haven't left yet. I won't until you say yes."

"Yes," he said sarcastically.

Kagome huffed. "You can't say yes without the intention of telling me what I want to hear."

"What do you want to hear, then?" Inuyasha sighed.

"The entire prophecy, how it relates to me, and what Hojo and his family plan to do with me should I return to them," Kagome rattled off without taking a breath. She would not sacrifice this chance. Her questions would be answered.

Inuyasha sighed and tugged on a lock of his black hair. A golden eye regarded her for half a second before he began walking again. Kagome squawked, but didn't release her hold on his shirt sleeve. They walked off down some random tunnel, and Kagome wondered where they were going. She didn't dare question his movements, for fear he would remember himself and refuse to answer her questions.

The roaring from the waterfall was growing louder and Kagome realized he was heading towards the exit. Her hold on his shirt sleeve tightened and she quickened her pace so she was walking beside him as opposed to behind him. He didn't seem to notice her shift in gait and moved forward, his eyes trained ahead of him distantly.

Finally, they reached the waterfall and the roaring from the water was almost unbearable. Everything was wet and she nearly slipped. Thankfully, she had Inuyasha to hang on to.

"Wait here!" he shouted loudly, and Kagome almost didn't hear him. Instead of trying to shout, she just nodded her head.

He walked forward and knelt. The water was splashing on his face but he didn't seem to notice or care. His hand touched the ground, his palm flattening against the cool rock. His eyes fell shut and he seemed to fall into a strange meditative trance. After what felt like an eternity, but could have very well been only a couple minutes, Inuyasha stood up and beckoned Kagome with the same hand.

He grabbed hers and didn't let go as he made his way towards the exit. The sun was nearly blinding for Kagome when she emerged behind the darkened sanctuary. She blinked and squinted, unable to take in the bright light of day. Inuyasha seemed unaffected by it and continued moving evenly over mossy and wet rocks, guiding her along when she took a misstep.

"What did you do back there?" Kagome asked once they were far enough away from the waterfall to hear again. Kagome wasn't sure where they were going. They were moving along the cliff face where the waterfall spilled from.

"Sensed around for human presences," Inuyasha said. "I wasn't about to walk out of here without knowing it was safe. Don't be stupid."

"I'm not," Kagome snapped back. "I just never know what you're doing. You never tell me anything. Where are we going?"

"Somewhere away from the waterfall. That way, if we're caught by soldiers, they won't know where our headquarters are," Inuyasha explained, as if this were supposed to be the most obvious thing on earth.

They followed along the cliff for a long time, neither speaking. Kagome realized, with a blush rising to her ears, that Inuyasha had yet to release her hand. She smiled softly to herself, ducking her head, and following behind the king. It was a strange happiness she felt inside, walking along with Inuyasha, as if the weight of the world were not resting on her shoulders, as if the weight of his family's death was not chipping at his shoulders. No, it was a strange peace that guided them along jagged rocks and through thick underbrush. Perhaps it was the magic of the enchanted forest, or maybe it was just her heart singing in nonsensical words. Whatever the case was, Kagome couldn't wipe the grin from her face and, for one delightful moment, she could pretend that she was normal.

They finally reached a destination that Inuyasha deemed appropriate. It was a small clearing, and the grass came up to their knees. Kagome stared down at the long pieces of green grass, and the peppering of poppies and wildflowers. A butterfly danced by her and she smiled. The trees wavered around them.

"I… I saw Midoriko last night," Kagome admitted.

Inuyasha stared at her, uncomprehending, for a moment, before the name seemed to click in his distant bank of memories and a look of recognition rippled across his face. He nodded. "What did she say?"

Kagome didn't feel comfortable relaying what Midoriko had discussed with her. It was something private, something untouchable. She didn't want to ruin this opportunity, however. She wanted to tell Inuyasha and be honest with him. Maybe, then, he'd be honest with her.

"I wasn't always a 'peasant,' you know," Kagome said softly.

"Oh?" To anyone who didn't know Inuyasha, it would have been difficult to tell if he were uninterested or bemused. Kagome hated that she knew Inuyasha well enough to tell the difference.

"My father was a wealthy merchant. He was very rich and revered among men," Kagome spoke admirably. "I grew up never knowing pain or misfortune. I never knew my mother, so her death didn't hurt me as much as I thought it would. I had my father, and I was happy. That was all that mattered to me, after it all. You know?"

Inuyasha nodded. "You had someone who loved you, and that was the only important thing in your life."

"Yes," Kagome agreed. "He eventually remarried, and I was happy for him, because it meant that he found happiness. But there were moments when I didn't think my new stepmother really loved my father. But he was always working, so I'm not sure if he noticed or, maybe, I was just seeing things I was making up. I was fooling myself, maybe. But, as long as my father continued to smile, I was happy."

"And then he died," Inuyasha supplied, following the flow of the story.

Kagome nodded, unable to repeat those words, because even now she had trouble admitting that her father was gone forever. It was always hard to accept the wasted potential and the broken goodbyes that never came.

"My stepfamily sprung on me like a pack of wolves. Before, they merely tolerated me because they knew my father would go ballistic if he knew they weren't treating me well. But, as soon as my father's life was gone, they took away everything that I had. They stole away my room and my possessions. They burned my photos of my mother." That memory proved to be extremely bitter for Kagome and she clenched her fists. "They moved me to a high tower, without glass over the window and hay for a bed. They treated me like an animal. I slept in ashes and soot."

Inuyasha didn't say anything but Kagome could tell he was listening. Kagome stared down at her feet, unable to face the look in his eyes. She wasn't sure what she would see there, but thinking of his uninterested or unaffected eyes hurt her heart. But, if she were to see compassion and sympathy in his eyes, she wasn't sure how she'd be able to break her gaze away from him. She wasn't ready to progress. She stayed, frozen in the times long past.

"They called me cruel names. They made fun of me. They kicked me around and slapped me when I didn't do something fast enough. They got fine things. They got wonderful, expensive things. I got nothing. I didn't mind not getting the things, as they were never very important to me. What I wanted was compassion. What I wanted was a family. What I wanted was recognition that I was alive and well, that I wasn't just some stupid servant that lived in the highest room of the house. That I was their family. That's all I wanted. I wanted love. I wanted love like I'd gotten from my father."

"Hm," Inuyasha grunted.

"My father's money eventually ran out, as I knew it would. My stepmother didn't work, and her two daughters hadn't worked a single day in their lives. It was growing harder and harder for them to put food on the table, and they blamed me for this, as if I had been the one to cause misfortune on that house. As if I was the one spending my father's money frivolously."

Kagome paused in her thoughts and took a step closer to Inuyasha. He didn't respond to this gesture. He didn't skirt away, but he didn't close the distance between them. Her shoulder bumped against his on accident and they stood perfectly still. Kagome seemed to draw strength from his silent acceptance.

"Then, my stepmother's prayers were answered. If she could somehow marry off one of her daughters to someone more powerful, she'd be set for life. The prince announced he was getting married, and there would be a ball. My stepmother thought this would be the perfect time for her daughters to find their husbands; if not in Prince Hojo, then at least in a nobleman who would undoubtedly be there."

"Ah," Inuyasha said. It was moments like these that Kagome was happy he didn't speak much.

Kagome raised her head, staring at the clouds high in the sky, dancing across the endless expanse of blue. "I wanted to go to the ball. Not because I wanted to find love, but to spite my stepfamily because I knew they would not let me go there. I was right. They didn't want me anywhere near the castle. They thought that I was trying to seduce the prince away from them. Ha. The last thing on my mind at the time was finding love. I just wanted one last shred of happiness. I wanted one last shred of memory of when my father was alive and he'd take me to elegant parties and parade me around, declaring I was the most beautiful girl in the world."

Her fingers lifted and she touched her black hair. The shredded remains of her long mane felt soft against her fingertips.

"I wonder what he would say now, if he could see me," Kagome said lightly, unable to hide the pain in her voice. "I'm indecisive about what I want. I've destroyed my long hair. I've run away from my responsibilities. And now, I'm burdening you with my life story."

"It's not a burden," Inuyasha said evenly. His voice pierced the darkness of her doubt.

Kagome nodded. "I know… I just… I want him to be proud of me."

"I'm sure he is," Inuyasha said, his voice sounding easy and light in the expansiveness of Kagome's mind in turmoil. She nodded again, unable to summon up the strength to speak. Inuyasha grabbed her hands and jerked her forward a step, so that they were standing face to face. Kagome shyly lifted her head to look up at him.

He gave her one of his strange, awkward smiles. There were moments when he looked like he was normal, like he was just another awkward young man searching for a place in the world. It was in this moment that Inuyasha did not look like a betrayed, broken king. He looked anything but kingly.

"Inuyasha… I want you to be honest with me. I want you to tell me everything that you know about this prophecy. I want you to tell me the full prophecy. How does it affect me? Why me?"

The Bandit King looked at her, his eyes wide and his face unreadable. She wondered what was pulsing through his head in that moment, as he stared down at her. He looked like he wanted to talk to her, to finally say something and end her endless confusion.

An arrow whizzed by Inuyasha's head and Kagome shrieked. She jumped back in alarm and Inuyasha released her hands, whipping out his sword and staring around, searching for the source of the weapon.

"Get behind me," he ordered, and that image of an awkward young man disappeared and was quickly replaced with the image of an exiled young king. Kagome did as she was told. He held his sword in front of him, his keen eyes searching.

Another arrow pierced the air, but Inuyasha easily cut it down. Inuyasha growled. "Come out, Hojo. I know it's you."

Kagome stared in shock as, yet again, Hojo emerged from the darkness, never failing to have the perfect ability to interrupt what would have been a very beneficial conversation. But fear gripped Kagome. She couldn't go back! She couldn't return to Hojo and marry him. She couldn't and wouldn't love Hojo, and he deserved a bride who would.

"How did you find us?" Inuyasha snapped.

Hojo shrugged one shoulder. "We share a mother, Inuyasha. Surely you are not the only one who inherited mother's powers." Inuyasha growled darkly, but Hojo ignored him. "I am no magic-carrier, but do you think I am unable to feel the pulses of magic left behind?"

"Prince Hojo… I…"

"My lady," Hojo interrupted Kagome before she could speak. He bowed to her, the simple inclination of his head. He never kept his eyes off of Inuyasha, however, and his grip on his bow and arrow was fierce. "I am sorry that I allowed him to take you away on our wedding day. But I am here now, my princess, and I will protect you with my life."

"Ha!" Inuyasha laughed. "Don't act so noble to try and justify your nefarious thoughts, bastard!"

"Inuyasha," Kagome whispered. "Don't."

"You're constantly coming to take her away," Inuyasha continued, as if he hadn't heard Kagome. "You've come to pluck her from my fingertips one too many times. I will not allow you to take her away from me. I will protect her. You cannot use her for the key."

"You think that this branches from my desire to fulfill the prophecy?" Hojo snapped and Kagome realized, with some dismay, that he'd admitted to knowing the prophecy and pursuing the completion of the prophecy. "I love the princess, and I won't let your filthy, demonic hands touch her. She is too pure for something as sinister and dirty as you. You are unworthy to be near her, brother."

"I am not your brother!" Inuyasha roared and charged forward, his sword poised to slice through Hojo. Kagome stared, her eyes growing wide.

Hojo shot an arrow at Inuyasha and it pierced his shoulder. The young king shouted in pain and faltered for half a second. That was just enough time, however, for Hojo to scale away. He glared at his half-brother.

"Don't try anything funny, bandit," Hojo snapped. "With just a simple shout, my guards will be here to protect me. You have no one around. You are trapped. Now, hand over the princess." He poised another arrow at Inuyasha, aiming for his heart. "Or should I just kill you here and be done with it?"

"Prince Hojo!" Kagome gasped as she raced forward, standing in front of Inuyasha. She stared at her prince, fear unquenched in her eyes. "Please, don't hurt him!"

"Princess!" Hojo raged, looking frustrated. "You cannot be so pure of heart! Let this bastard die for all the pain and suffering he's caused you and our country. He is a traitor and a murderer. He does not deserve your kindness and sympathy. Step away."

"I cannot!" Kagome shouted, wondering where this bravery was coming from. "I will not step away from him! He has not treated me cruelly. He has not treated me harshly. He has been kind. He has been decent. He's protected me more than once."

"He is merely tricking you, so that you trust him! He is a sinister magic-carrier, my princess. He cannot be trusted!"

"I do trust him!" Kagome shouted. "I trust him with my life!"

A strange silence followed this statement, and her words bounced off the cliff and echoed back, a cruel reminder of what she'd just said. Her eyes widened but she refused to move. Behind her, she could hear Inuyasha pulling the arrow from his flesh, a hiss of pain dripping from his tightly clenched lips.

"I'm sorry, Prince Hojo," Kagome whispered and she turned her face away, unable to look at him. "But I do not love you."

"What?" Hojo barked, looking shocked and, to Kagome's dismayed, hurt.

She ducked her head and felt a wave of emotion roll over her. She tried not to cry and let her voice shake. She heard Inuyasha stand up behind her and move, so that he was standing in front of her, his sword drawn and a large spot of blood blooming across his white tunic.

"I… I do not love you. I may have, once… but I can't love you anymore. You don't deserve to have someone who cannot love you, Prince Hojo. I am so sorry."

"He's put a spell on you, hasn't he?" Hojo barked and shot another arrow at Inuyasha. The king cut it down. "What have you done to my bride, bandit?"

The two men charged at one another and began fighting, much to Kagome's dismay. She shouted at them to stop, but they did not listen to her. She clenched her fists, her eyes flashing angrily. They never listened to her, either of them. They were always trying to protect her. She liked to feel safe, but she was not made of glass.

"Stop!" she screamed. "Please, stop!"

"If I kill the magic carrier," Hojo barked, "the spell will be broken!"

"Stop!" Kagome screamed again, but they carried on. Inuyasha slashed and Hojo ducked. Hojo fired and Inuyasha dodged. "I don't want to go back! I can't go back! I won't go back!"

"I must break the spell!" Hojo shouted.

"There is no spell, fool, she's just finally opened her eyes to your tyranny," Inuyasha said, a small vein of laughter in his voice.

"No, that's not it!" Kagome was still shouting. "I don't love you Hojo, it's Inuyasha I love!"

The two men froze and Kagome realized what she'd said. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. Hojo stared at her in shocked betrayal, and Inuyasha's face seemed frozen in a perpetual moment of surprise. He was beyond shocked. He was beyond stunned. The two brothers stared at the princess, and Kagome began to shake.

"I-I'm sorry… I'm sorry, Prince Hojo," Kagome said, feeling tears collecting in her eyes. "But I love Inuyasha."

She said it again, and again. And, she knew, in that moment, that she was right. She knew, in that moment, that everything she was saying was the truth. Because her chest was warm. Her chest had a delightfully warm beat pulsing through her. The jewel around her neck pulsed and glowed a warm pink, seeming to surround her in its warm glow. She knew. Her heart had spoken, and she had finally listened and understood what she was saying. This was what she wanted. And she was so happy because of it.

"Inuyasha, I love you," she whispered happily, far more confidently. She took a step towards him. "Do you hear me? I love you."

But Inuyasha did not look happy. His stunned expression had melted away, and he just looked tired and guilty. That was not the face of a man happily in love. Hojo was staring at her like he'd been stabbed and had vomited at the same time. Kagome felt fear grip her heart, but the jewel was still pulsing, in time with her chest.

"To… to love a man like me," Inuyasha said, and he did not look or sound happy. He shook his head. "You must be delusional."

"What?" Kagome and Hojo said at the same time.

Suddenly, all the happiness that bubbled around Kagome shattered like glass. She blinked, once, twice. But it was the same thing. She was still standing in the clearing, having declared her love for him to the heavens, and she was still standing in that same clearing, where he'd called her delusional. She swallowed thickly, suddenly feeling very sick.

"But, I love…"

"Shut up!" Inuyasha hissed, turning his face away. The hand on his sword tightened until his knuckles were white. "Don't say such lies!"

"Lies?" Kagome repeated, her hurt quickly turning into anger. "Lies! I'm not lying! Why would I lie about this? Why can't you accept that I love you?"

"Because you don't know what love is!" Inuyasha shouted, looking outraged now. "You don't love me. You need me for protection. You don't know what love is, and you never will!"

_Why is he saying these things?_ Kagome's broken heart cried out.

"Why would I lie about this?" Kagome shouted, tears collecting in her eyes. "I'm not_ supposed_ to love you! I'm not supposed to feel this way! I'm supposed to marry Hojo and live happily ever after! I'm supposed to find happiness as a queen of this kingdom, not at the arm of some exiled king! But I _can't_. I can't have that happily ever after as long as I have these feelings for you!"

He stared at her as she spoke, and with every passing word his eyes grew colder and colder, his face falling into a strange, passive expression. He stared at her, as if he were in a trance, as Kagome ranted. Hojo still looked just as shocked as ever. The prince blinked and shook his head, seeming to snap out of his stunned silence.

He dropped his bow and drew the sword at his side. He pressed it tightly against Inuyasha's neck.

Inuyasha's fire seemed to have sunk straight away from him. He continued staring at Kagome, with that strange resigned look on his face. "Sword again, Hojo?"

Prince Hojo's eyes were on Kagome. "I'll kill him. I'll kill him and take you away. Or, you can do it the easy way and just come with me."

"How do I know you'll not just kill him after I agree to come with you?" Kagome asked, sounding just as broken as she looked. She'd been rejected. Inuyasha didn't love her.

"Make your choice, Kagome," Hojo said evenly, and pushed the sword against Inuyasha's throat, a line of blood freckling across his pale, tender skin. Inuyasha hissed in pain and refused to meet Kagome's eyes.

Kagome clenched her eyes shut. "Fine… fine… I'll come. There is nothing for me here. Not anymore."

"Good," Hojo said and shoved Inuyasha forward. The man tripped on his own feet and fell to the ground, his body hidden from view thanks to the knee-high grass. Kagome watched in fear as Hojo stalked up to her and grabbed her forearm, to keep her from running again. He turned back to his brother and said, "Let this be a lesson to you, brother. Don't steal what is mine. You tried and failed to stop this prophecy. But it will come to pass. And you will be nothing more than ash and bone."

"Prince Hojo…" Kagome began.

"Be silent, woman," Hojo snapped, and Kagome drew back in alarm. "You may not love me, but you will be my bride. I will make sure of that."

Hojo stalked forward, approaching Inuyasha's body. The exiled king stood up slowly, still gripping his sword and his neck covered in blood. He didn't try to speak, and Kagome wondered if he even could.

"Perhaps you need a physical marking of your lesson," Hojo mused out loud and slashed his sword across Inuyasha's chest. The man shouted out in pain and fell to the ground, his sword falling from limp fingertips.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted and moved to run towards him. Hojo stopped her with a fierce grip.

"Don't you dare go near him," Hojo snapped. "Let him wallow here. Maybe, if we're lucky, he'll just die here."

"Inuyasha…!" Kagome wept.

The Bandit King didn't move for a moment before he lifted his head. His eyes locked on Kagome's and he whispered something. His words died before they left his lips, but Kagome saw him speak. And then, in a puff of smoke that enveloped the mage completely, he was gone.

"Teleportation, huh," Hojo mused. "Very wise decision on his part. He would have been killed if he'd stayed here. I would have made sure of that."

Kagome stared at her fiancée in alarm, seeing a new side of him she didn't like in the least.

"Come then, my bride," Hojo said, as if discussing something trivial over tea. "Let us return to the castle, shall we? We have a prophecy to complete."

Kagome couldn't speak, and she let Hojo lead her away from the clearing and towards a large group of soldiers waiting in the shadows. They must have seen the whole thing, because they did not treat her like a precious royal, but, rather, like a broken toy. She didn't even try to stop crying.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Open Your Eyes  
Chapter Sixteen**

---

She sat in the royal carriage with Prince Hojo, her hands clenched and her eyes saddened.

"Don't be discouraged, Princess," Hojo said, not sounding nearly as reassuring or loving as he once did. Kagome didn't respond, and watched the passing trees with a deadpan expression. "It will all be over soon."

Kagome still did not speak. She sighed lightly, and her heart quivered in her chest when she thought of what had occurred mere hours before. They were traveling back to the castle. Again. She'd been carted back and forth so many times, Kagome wondered why she didn't feel some solace with the knowledge this would be the last time. Inuyasha would not come for her. Not now. And Hojo would never let her go, either.

"He'll be dead by morning," Hojo said conversationally, and there was no question as to who _he_ was. A shiver ran down Kagome's spine and arms as she thought of her future husband's harsh words.

"You promised you wouldn't hurt him," Kagome whispered, her voice as broken as her spirit.

"I won't need to," Hojo said nonchalantly. "He teleported. That takes a supreme amount of magic, an amount he does not possess. Casting magic takes a mighty amount of strength and endurance, Princess. Not everyone can be a magic carrier, and those that have the gift must work hard to be able to withstand the weight and pain of possessing that magic."

"I don't understand," Kagome murmured. There was so much she didn't understand.

"Teleportation is a skill even masters of magic have trouble controlling. Inuyasha is no master. He is skilled, yes, but not a master. That spell he used will take the ultimate toll on his body. He will be weak for months, maybe even years… if he survives."

"He will die, then…" Kagome said, her voice cracking and tears in her eyes. She was so frustrated and scared. She didn't understand why she was so weak. "He will die running away."

"A worthy fate of that scum," Hojo said harshly and Kagome tried to blink away her tears. She didn't remember Hojo ever being this cruel. But, then again, she didn't remember a lot about Hojo. She knew nothing of her Prince Charming.

"He won't die," Kagome said firmly, and wished she was as confident as she sounded.

Hojo chuckled. "He won't be able to save you."

"He wouldn't anyway, even if he could."

"The prophecy is very important to him. He needs you for that, and that alone. You are a fool to think that something as hideous and inhuman as that piece of trash could love anyone, especially one of your stature and position. You are foolish."

"Be that as it may," Kagome said, not even denying her stupidity. "I do not love you. I do not believe it's fair that I stay with you and benefit off your position, when I cannot give you the love you need and deserve. I cannot marry you."

"Marriage, you say?" Hojo asked mysteriously, his head tilted towards the window, his eyes sweeping the passing foliage. He said nothing for a long moment, and Kagome wasn't sure what the strange half-smile on his face meant. He turned to her and his eyes glittered. "You think that I'll be marrying you after all of this mess?"

Kagome drew back away from him, her body pressing into the comfortable seat of her carriage. "I… well. You won't?"

He turned his attention towards the window again as the carriage came to a halt. His little smile danced across his lips and he rested his chin in his hand, jutting towards the forest.

"No. I don't think I will," Hojo said conversationally as the door slipped open and the driver came to Kagome, a large club in his hand. Kagome's eyes widened. "We'll see you when you wake up, Cinders."

The brute brandished the club and hit Kagome on the head. The girl gasped in pain before she flopped over onto the ground, her eyes shut and a welt forming on the top of her head.

---

The first thing Kagome realized when she awoke was that she had a splitting headache. She didn't move for a long moment, her eyes shut tightly and trying to banish the miserable pounding serenading through her head. She groaned in agony for a moment before sitting up.

The second thing Kagome realized when she awoke was that she was in a holding cell, and not on a warm, comfortable bed. Rubbing her head and looking around curiously, she stood up on shaky legs and wobbled over to a small, barred window. Peering out, she realized she was in a tower. From her vantage point, she could tell she was on the other side of the castle—she could see the tower that had once been her room.

The third thing Kagome realized when she awoke was that her hands were chained together and a huge ball and chain was attached to her ankle. She stared at it in surprise, wondering how she hadn't noticed it. The chain was long, and the iron ball was heavy. Her wrists felt cramped from the bindings there.

The fourth thing Kagome realized when she awoke was that Hojo was sitting on the other side of the prison bars. He smiled at her pleasantly and Kagome turned her face away, unable to look at him and see the truth. He'd been so kind. He'd been so loving. He'd been everything she'd ever wanted. But she had been so blind. She hadn't realized what was sitting right in front of her: a cruel, egotistical man. But now her eyes were open.

"Good to see you're awake, Cinders," Hojo said, that same smile still on his lips. He almost looked charming.

"My name is Kagome," the girl hissed, her eyes narrowing.

He tilted his head to the side, as if she'd actually said something clever or performed a trick. "Is it?"

"Yes," Kagome snapped. "It's the name my mother gave me."

"Hm," Hojo said, sounding uninterested and tired.

"Why have you locked me away, Hojo?" Kagome asked icily, trying to look as detached and unaffected as she could. Her entire body was shaking from her anger and contempt.

"I need you to stay out of harm's way."

"What about the wedding?" Kagome asked, and couldn't hide the dread in her voice.

Hojo pretended to think for a long moment before he shrugged his shoulders. "I have no use of you as a bride. You are too much of a commoner. You are too much of hassle to control. And I won't have my half-brother's wench on my arm. The prophecy states nothing of this woman marrying into the royal family."

Kagome's eyes narrowed. "I am no one's wench. I am Kagome. I am my own person."

"Of course you are," Hojo said, as if humoring a young, insolent child.

"Don't treat me like a fool," Kagome snapped angrily.

"I will marry a soft-spoken princess," Hojo continued as if he hadn't heard Kagome's words. "It's such a hassle taking care of a peasant who can't stand up straight, speak properly, or realize when it's time to keep her mouth shut. Nay, I think I'll have a lovely bride who is obedient this time."

Kagome tossed her head defiantly, much like an angry horse. "I feel no shame for who I am."

"That is because you are a fool," Hojo said evenly, looking at his fingernails and inspecting them for dirt. Kagome snarled angrily, wishing she could throttle his neck through the bars. She somehow managed to restrain her anger, however.

"I will never bend to you."

"It won't matter in the end. We shall fulfill the prophecy. Then your purpose will be nonexistent. Your beauty is only skin deep. Underneath it all… you're just an ugly person."

Kagome reeled back in shock, her eyes widening. "What?"

"You're an ugly person," Hojo repeated calmly, as if discussing the bright sunshine outside. "Do you deny it?"

Kagome clenched her eyes shut and ducked her head. "I don't deny it."

"Hm," Hojo hummed in agreement, shrugging one shoulder. "I'm glad to see we're in agreement over something, eh?"

Kagome said nothing.

"It's a shame it did not work out, _Kagome_," he whispered. He was finally saying her name, but while, at the beginning, hearing her name on his lips would have brought her immense joy, all she felt now was bitter distaste and shame. "You could have done so much better than my half-brother."

"Shut up," Kagome commanded, but didn't sound convincing. Calling her ugly had drained her more than she thought it would have.

"I am your Prince Charming," Hojo sighed dramatically and Kagome wondered how he could have shifted so drastically in his character. He'd been so kind, so gentle, when she'd first met him. But now… "But you aren't my princess."

"You're not charming," Kagome accused snippily.

"It's a shame Inuyasha won't be coming to save you. It's a shame that you can't sway me to take pity on you," Hojo jested, his lips curved into a small smirk that didn't suit his handsome face.

Kagome's fists clenched and she shot off the bench in the prison she stormed to the bars separating the prince and the prisoner. She glared at him darkly. "I am not some dainty princess! I have taken care of myself far longer than anyone else in this castle. I was not born as a princess. I was not born pampered, with a silver spoon in my mouth. I do not need saving."

"Ha!" he laughed.

"I will not do anything to help you. I will not let you fulfill this prophecy."

"Do you really think you have a choice in the matter?" Hojo accused, mirth in his voice.

Kagome said nothing for a long moment. After a pregnant pause, she hissed, "I will not help you."

"Do you even know the prophecy, woman?" Hojo questioned, his eyes glittering in the dark tower. Kagome swallowed thickly and shook her head. Hojo seemed surprised for half a second. "You mean to say that stupid bandit didn't tell you?"

"He only told me snippets," Kagome confessed, and hated herself for being ignorant.

"How could he possibly benefit from that? If anything, it would help him if you knew, because you'd probably be more willing to help him. If you knew the whole prophecy and what it meant."

"Will you tell me, then?"

"Only if you bow to me," Hojo said and laughed cruelly.

Kagome was torn between knowing the prophecy and bowing before this man. Before, it wouldn't have been a question. But Hojo had undergone a major metamorphosis. Or, perhaps, he'd been like this the entire time and she just hadn't realized. Perhaps Hojo was that good of an actor.

Finally, Kagome stepped back from the bars and glared at him harshly. She hated herself. She hated him. But she hated herself more.

She bowed, a short, shallow bow. But it was enough to appease Hojo, because his grin widened and he chuckled. The harsh sound reverberated off the stone walls around them.

"That's a good lass," he said callously.

Kagome said nothing.

Hojo tilted his head to the side. "I suppose I'll tell you now."

He steadied himself, as if mentally drawing up the lines of the magical prophecy. He licked his parched lips and stared off into space, recalling the words long since engraved into his memory.

Then, he recited:

_On the dawn of the eighteenth summer,  
She shall rise from her ashes  
The most beautiful woman of her world  
And  
The trodden peasant shall unleash her power  
Granting the impossible dream  
Perpetual and unassailable your kingdom shall be  
When her jeweled life is ripped away  
And  
Her mask will melt away and reveal that  
Her inscrutable state of being, regally,  
Cannot hide away her filthy blood.  
But fear well, young King,  
For so easily can stone crack  
Under the powerful twined blood  
Of futility and obscurity  
Melding,  
Into power and fortune.  
Fear your shadow,  
Fear the crown  
And tremble before  
His command. _

In the end, it didn't seem nearly as climatic as Kagome had half expected and half hoped. She blinked as the silence stretched on between them. The lack of noise between the two was deafening, and a bit frightening. But it was the complete prophecy. And Kagome knew it now. She devoted the recital to memory.

"Do you see now, _Cinders_?" Hojo asked, stressing her name.

It seemed to click one by one, one impossibly small puzzle piece at a time, like a broken pane of glass, where all pieces are similar and unrecognizable. It was long and painful to connect it again. But it was starting to.

"So… you need me to unleash some sort of power on your kingdom?"

"With the blood of a virgin, with unearthly beauty," Hojo agreed, "you shall grant us unlimited power and immortality."

"Immortality?" Kagome gasped.

"We must sacrifice the most beautiful woman of this world," Hojo continued, as if he hadn't heard Kagome. He probably hadn't. "We shall take your blood and use it to lure out the ancient powers so that we may be granted our immortality. We shall rule this kingdom as living Gods. Forever."

"You'll sacrifice me for that?"

"You are not the only one. It will take countless amounts of blood to beckon these creatures of darkness. Your blood is imperative to the spell, but your body does not carry enough." His hand reached through the bars and stroked her cheek. Kagome reeled back in shock. Hojo chuckled.

"But it says something of filthy blood," Kagome snapped. "You said you needed virgin blood."

"Filthy blood in reference to being non-royal. You are as common as they come, Cinders, other than your beauty, of course."

"Stop calling me that," Kagome commanded.

"We need your purity. We need your beauty. We need the doubt and the pain and the hope that lounges in your heart." He touched her cropped hair and Kagome jerked back again, slapping her hand against his forearm and knocking it aside. He didn't seem to notice or mind. He continued, "We need the power that lounges within you."

"I have no power."

"So you think. You are no ordinary mortal. Your mother was powerful. Your mother was a Seer, was she not? Plus, you have been touched by a magician."

"Touched? What are you talking about? Everyone's been touched by a mage one time or another, I'm sure." She thought bitterly of Inuyasha and her heart throbbed.

"Are you truly that ignorant? No, you have been _touched_ by a magician. A powerful wizard has deposited some of his magic into you."

"How do you know? Don't say such nonsense." Kagome remembered when Kouga had believed her to be a magic carrier, as well. For the same reasons.

"My half-brother…" Hojo paused and shook his head before quickly correcting himself and saying, "Inuyasha… he has given you a fraction of your power. A lifelong charm for your good health and good fortune. It's luck. He has given you some of his luck."

"He hasn't," Kagome said defiantly.

"A magician deposits his magic into another by touching their forehead and stomach at the same time and silently chanting the ancient spell. It's a very big ordeal, for the magic cannot be called back, even after death. It is a sign of love for magicians."

Kagome turned her face away, her cheeks turning red as Kagome remembered during her wedding day when Inuyasha _had_ touched her forehead and her stomach. She swallowed. There was no way Inuyasha loved her. He'd rejected her so openly, so harshly, so totally.

"He's done no such thing," Kagome said again.

"We can feel the magic within you," Hojo said conversationally. "You forget that my mother is a priestess. I can feel magic, Cinders, and you are, indeed, a magic carrier now."

His eyes glittered.

"Plus, there is something more about you… beyond that magic you've borrowed. You harbor your own magic." Hojo paused and smiled, his eyes glittering again cruelly. "Do you have no idea who your mother was, then?"

"A magic-carrier, I suppose."

"Oh no, not something so silly and trivial," Hojo said, laughter in his voice. He laughed. "Do you even wonder where your unnatural beauty came from? You have the beautiful features of something inhuman, Cinders. You are not all human."

Kagome frowned. "I don't believe you."

"Your mother was a fairy," Hojo said conversationally, as if he had not just blown Kagome's mind. Kagome stared at him.

"What?" she squeaked.

"Your mother. She was a fairy." Hojo turned to her, and smirked. "We have records of her. She was a powerful fairy. But she fell in love with a human. But he was dying."

"My father?" Kagome breathed. She collapsed to her knees staring at the ground, refusing to look up at the prince.

"He was dying, and she gave him half of her life for him to live. They shared her immortality, and they lived together."

"How do you know this?"

"My mother is a priestess," Hojo explained again, as if that solved everything.

Kagome shook her head. "I don't believe you."

"Your mother and father lived together, sharing her life. They lived. They loved. You were born. And she died, for fairies are not meant to give birth. Do you know how fairies are born, Cinders?"

"When a flower blooms," Kagome said miserably.

"That's right. Your mother couldn't handle it. And she died. Your father returned to his own life expectancy, as I'm sure you're aware, was quite short to begin with. At least you had a loving stepmother, yes?"

"Ha," Kagome laughed without mirth. "Mother died when I was seven. You are ignorant."

"She still died because of you," Hojo said, without sympathy. "Her body could not handle it."

"So this is why I am so crucial to you," Kagome muttered.

"That's right. You have immortal blood in you. You shall lead me to immortality and an eternal ruling. And I will not let that third verse come to pass."

"Twined blood," Kagome muttered, realization dawning on her. "I'm half fairy."

Hojo laughed. "We'll kill you before you can even fulfill that prophecy. Don't even think about it, Cinders. You are nothing to us but a key. You shall unlock the future of his monarchy."

Before Kagome could say a word, Hojo turned on his heel and stalked away.


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Open Your Eyes  
Chapter Seventeen**

---

Kagome sat silently in her cage. She hadn't moved for days, it seemed. It was hard to tell the passage of time, high in her tower, even if she saw the sun set every day. She'd tried to occupy herself. Despite the cage, the room was livable. There was a book shelf. A blanket. A three-legged chair.

On the first day after the talk with Hojo, Kagome had riffled through the books. She'd knocked one off the shelf and it fluttered open. She realized it was a book on tarot. It had fallen open to a page with a bright illustration of the card it depicted. The ace of wands.

Kagome closed the book and returned it to the shelf. She hadn't touched it since.

She shifted her hands and the chain clinked against the heavy iron ball. She sat on the collection of dirty old blankets that served as her bed. She lowered her head and covered her face with her hands, crying silently in the quiet tower. She hadn't meant to be this useless. She'd promised herself, after her father's death, that she would be strong. But now, she was nothing.

She sat in the corner, the blanket pushed against it to form a makeshift cushion. She thumbed at the dirty fabric of her clothing. Occasionally a guard would walk by, to make sure she was still there. The visits were rare and far between.

Kagome rarely raised her head. She stayed still. She stayed obedient. Deep inside, she was screaming, but she couldn't summon the energy to speak. She hated herself for waiting. She felt like she'd returned to her time with her stepmother, locked in her tower when she was unneeded or doing housework to appease her pseudo-mother's sadistic satisfaction.

She clenched her fists around the grubby blanket, her heart throbbing for the two men she would never see again. She saw her father's face, smiling, kind, gentle. He'd been the one to love her after her mother's death, the one to protect her and teach her and love her. And Inuyasha. The man she loved more than anything in the world, but didn't love her back.

Thinking about that made her heart throb again and she tried not to think about her morbid future and inevitable death.

"There is nothing left," she whispered to herself, and her voice sounded hoarse and broken, even to her own ears. How long had she been in this tower? It felt like months of nothing. "There is nothing… nothing left."

She would die and no one would mourn her death.

Just as she was about to accept the failure of her life, however, a gentle warmth spread across her chest. She blinked her eyes free of her self-pitying tears and lifted her head a fraction of an inch as a cluster of life formed in front of her, morphing and changing in a beautiful cascade of colors and warmth.

In that next instant, Midoriko stood before her, tall, regal, and proud as always. Her ethereal being radiated throughout the entire tower and Kagome felt warmer just being near her. Kagome sat up fully, and the chains bounding her clunk together.

"Your broken heart called to me," Midoriko soothed gently as she regarded her godchild tenderly. She was as angelic and enigmatic as Kagome remembered her, and she was thankful that Midoriko was there.

Kagome lowered her head. "My heart is broken."

"Do not despair, my child," her fairy godmother insisted softly.

"How can I not? I am nothing but a key to the royal family and Inuyasha despises my very being. If he's not already dead from overdoing his powers. Teleporting like that. What was he thinking?"

"He was thinking of you," Midoriko coaxed.

"By running away?"

"By keeping himself alive to keep you alive," the white woman corrected.

"Huh?" Kagome asked, confused.

"You have been touched by a magician, my child, which is a very heavy burden. You hold the power of a mage within you. But that power will fade should he die, the source of your magic. Of course… you have your own magic as well, within you."

Kagome clenched her eyes shut. "He hates me."

"He does not hate you."

"But he doesn't love me."

"Love is a painful thing, child."

"I want to be with him, so much." Kagome wiped some stray tears from her blue eyes. "I just want him to be happy… even if it's not with me."

"I know, sweet one."

"But I'm worthless! I can't even protect myself. I can't even see that my fiancée is using me! He saw it from the beginning, and he tried to tell me! But I didn't listen! I was so stupid, so ignorant. And now I'm trapped in a tower and can't get out!" Kagome perked up, "Unless… Midoriko, can't you get me out?"

"I cannot," the woman said regretfully and Kagome deflated, lowering her head. "I would be interfering with your destiny if I were to do that. I can only offer my guidance. I already interfered enough when I gave you means to attend the ball and meet your Prince Charming."

"Bloody good that did me."

"You met your true love," Midoriko reassured.

"Hojo is _not_—"

"Without Hojo, you would never have met Inuyasha," Midoriko corrected.

"Oh…" Kagome let this sink in before she blushed down at her hands. "I really am foolish, aren't I? I'll die here."

"You must have faith. You have so much more power than you give yourself credit for. There is still time for you to shape your destiny, lovely. You must stay strong. The flower that blooms in adversary is the most beautiful flower of all."

"T-thank you."

"I will always be here, should you need me. I have always been here for you, my darling."

She lifted her gazed as Midoriko touched her hands. A spear of warmth overflowed her. She met Midoriko's kind gaze, the unearthly, glowing creature smiling down at her tenderly. Her eyes were tender and warm, as if lovingly regarding a child.

Then it clicked. Kagome lowered her gaze to Midoriko's pale, tiny hands. "You're my mother, aren't you?"

"Yes," her fairy godmother said warmly. "I was wondering when you would remember my face."

"I don't remember you well," Kagome admitted. "You were always sickly. I rarely got to see you."

"That is why I stayed here for you after my life ended," Midoriko confessed and squeezed Kagome's hands. "You are my only daughter, who I love so very dearly."

Kagome continued to stare at her mother's hands. Pale like the moonlight. She didn't know how to swallow this information, but she somehow summoned the courage to nod her head. She couldn't look up, though. Was she even worthy?

"What have I done?" Kagome asked. "I listened to my heart, but it has brought me so much pain."

"Without sorrow there cannot be joy," Midoriko soothed. And while Kagome knew she was right, she couldn't bring herself to agree right away.

"Did you know this would happen?" Kagome questioned bitterly. Mutely, Midoriko nodded, and Kagome caught the movement out of the corner of her eye.

Midoriko released her hands. Kagome's fell silently into her lap.

"There is so much you have left to learn," Midoriko said, a hint of sadness in her motherly voice. Kagome finally raised her head and their eyes locked. Kagome felt tears spring to her eyes, unsure how to react to such an intense onslaught of emotion. Midoriko's eyes reflected her emotions and she tenderly cupped Kagome's cheeks. She whispered, "But you will learn. Soon."

And Kagome realized, with mortification, that Midoriko was fading away. "Please!" she cried. "Don't leave yet. There is still so much I need to know. Please, you have to help me get out of here. I need to escape this prophecy. I need to… I need to…"

Midoriko shook her head, already turning see-through. "I cannot help you, my child. You must do this on your own. You must learn these lessons on your own."

Then she was gone and Kagome felt more alone than she ever had in her life.

---

For days she didn't move from her bed of blankets. At first the guards were concerned, fearing that the princess had died before Prince Hojo could be of use to her. They threw bits of food at her until she stirred, giving them unfathomable looks, as if she didn't recognize where she was. With snorts, the guards left her and learned to ignore the princess.

Kagome twiddled her fingers absently. "There is nothing more."

The words seemed to be her mantra as of late. She tried to listen to Midoriko's words, but thinking of Inuyasha's rejection and Hojo's cruelty left her stranded on the ground. Her days were numbered, she knew, yet she couldn't think of a single way for her to get out of this situation. She was stuck, and helpless.

God, did she hate being helpless more than anything in the world. She hated feeling as if she had no control over her life. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be! She was Kagome. She was strong! She had to snap out of it.

"I am a magic carrier. I carry Inuyasha's magic. I carry my own magic."

With those word, Kagome was on her feet for the first time in days. She wobbled for a second, her legs trying to reclaim the feeling of control. She swayed and rested her shoulder against the wall of her prison. She wobbled some more and bumped into the bookshelf, knocking the tarot book free from it's shelf. The page opened to the Six of Pentacles.

Kagome leaned over and grabbed the book. Her ball and chain tugged at her ankle but she didn't care. She slammed the book shut and threw it to the shelf.

"I need not rely on you," she told it scornfully. "I will create my own future."

She strode confidently to the window—as smoothly as she could, wary of her chains—and looked out the window for the first time in a long time. The kingdom stretched on for as long as she could see. She had to protect this land from the royal family. If they succeeded in becoming immortal, they would not care for resistance or rebels. They would do as they pleased.

So high above the land she'd grown up in, Kagome felt her heart swell and the fragile, broken bits start to mend. She would never get to see Inuyasha or be with Inuyasha. She would have to die, eventually, to protect these people.

"If I die now, I can protect them," Kagome said to herself, and then quickly shook her head. "No, if I die, they'll pick another girl and kill her instead. I must end this myself."

Swallowing thickly, realizing with some dread the weight of her future, Kagome tried to touch the magic swirling within her, always a presence she'd ignored. Her fairy blood blessed her with these powers, but they were unhinged inside her. She had to awaken them.

"How does he do magic anyway?" Kagome asked, staring incredulously at her hand, as if it would reveal to her some kind of magic. "Okay… he told me this once. Focus your energy into that one act. Concentrate. Try to summon your magic."

Kagome scrunched up her face and then her shoulders sag.

"How the hell am I going to do that?"

She sunk down before the window, resting her arms on the windowsill. She placed her chin on her folded arms and stared out at the worlds before her. She had to try as hard as she could. She knew that. She had to protect everyone, and this was her responsibility. If she so willed, she could probably fling herself out the window or cut her throat with the broken leg of the chair, but she didn't want to force that fate upon another girl. And she wanted to live. She was going to live.

She turned away from the window and pressed her back against the wall. Breathing in slowly she stared at her hands.

The princess clenched her eyes shut, trying to summon the magic she knew lay dwelling within her. She had to do magic if she were to survive here. She tried to focus on that will of survival, trying to coax the magic inside her to reveal itself to her. She worked at it for hours before she finally felt something.

She felt a tingling in her hand and she stared at it in shock before she saw the strangest glittering at her fingertips, and then a burst of warmth. Suddenly, a white streak beamed out of her palm and swirled around like a small tornado. She squeaked in shock but didn't dare close her hand or break off the feeling of energy flowing to her palm. She grinned widely as t he tornado grew in size, spinning around the contours of her palm.

And soon it stopped and Kagome felt tired. "Wow… magic."

Then a new wave flew over her, a wave of nausea. Kagome buckled and leaned over, breathing deep, trying her best not to throw up. Something was crawling within her, scratching at her insides. She coughed and sputtered, trying to get the feeling to pass.

Her hands tingled again, both hands this time, and she cupped them before her, trying to release the feeling of nausea and pain from her inside. She quivered as the wind returned, creating a large vortex in her hands, spinning widely and whipping her hair into her face, mouth, and eyes.

After the wind ceased Kagome felt a weight in her hands. Swallowing thickly, she dared to open her eyes, feeling as if a part of her soul had disappeared. Her eyes widened at the black blob in her hand, as if she were holding a shadow without a castor.

"A familiar!" she squeaked out. So she really awakened to her magic. She remembered Shippou telling her that receiving a familiar was the first magic a wizard did once awakening to their magic. She felt a surge of joy in her heart. She wasn't alone. This was a part of her soul she held in her hand.

Slowly, the black blob oozed from her fingertips and collected on the ground, swirling slowly around in a circular pattern. Then, with a loud popping noise, the black blob became a small kitten. Kagome leaned over, staring down at it.

"You're so tiny," she cooed at the cat. It meowed sweetly and yawned, stretching its small body. "You're a young familiar. Inuyasha's familiar is larger than you… so the familiar must grow with the sorcerer."

Kagome saw the cat nod distinctly to her.

"Do you… have a name?" Kagome questioned the cat. It stared at her with wide eyes and daintily licked one of its paws. The cat was a wonderful cream color with spots of light and dark brown.

The cat regarded her before mewling and shaking its head. Kagome hesitantly offered her hand and the kitten trotted happily into her proffered appendage. The new mage lifted the kitten and cupped it in both her hands.

"May I name you?" Kagome asked. The cat nodded. Kagome pet it between its too little ears and the cat purred happily. "Can you not speak yet? Do you have a human form?" The cat shook its head to both questions. "Will you someday, possibly?" The cat nodded. Kagome breathed, "Wow. I have no idea what to name you."

The cat mewled.

"I've never named anything in my life. My father never had pets, and my stepmother would never let me have such a joy. Not to say you're a pet," Kagome quickly reassured when the cat looked miffed, "I simply meant that, I've never had the pleasure to name such a wonderful creature." The cat seemed to perk up at that and it mewled sweetly. Kagome giggled. "Thank you… Thank you for being here with me."

The cat responded by licking her thumb. Its tongue was soft and smooth, unlike any cat Kagome had ever encountered in her life. It was purring and it curled into a little ball, it's tiny tail flickering against her fingertips.

"Buyo?" Kagome decided, and awaited the familiar's approval. The cat regarded her with intelligent eyes. "I… I mean, if you don't like that name…"

The cat rested its head back down and breathed slowly, its tail curled around one of Kagome's fingers. Kagome took this as approval and started to stroke the tiny kitten—so small it fit in the palm of her hand.

"Buyo, then," Kagome said with a nod. The cat purred louder. "I'm afraid that I won't be the best of mages, however. I've never done magic before. I don't even know how to summon you or bring you back to my soul—and you are a part of my soul, aren't you? You reflect what I've lost. I remember. Shippou represents Inuyasha's lost innocence."

The cat didn't move for a long moment, though the hold of its tail around her finger seemed to tighten.

"I'll try my hardest. I need to get out here. You wouldn't happen to know a spell that can break these chains, do you?" Kagome questioned as the cat finally succumbed to the understanding it wouldn't get to sleep so long as its mistress still had things to say to it. It yawned and stretched out in Kagome's palm before regarding her regally. "Do you know magic?"

The cat hopped down and padded around the room, searching through the nooks and crannies.

"I've searched this entire prison. There's nothing."

The cat climbed the air to reach the top of the book shelf. Kagome gasped at the simple magic, used so precariously by a small kitten. This was her familiar. This was a part of her soul trying to help her. Kagome squeezed the fabric above her heart. Part of her soul was alive now, trotting around searching for means of escape, but another part of her soul had died at Inuyasha's rejection, and another at Hojo's betrayal.

"I'm so stupid," Kagome whispered, and the joy of owning a familiar was quickly overshadowed by the morbid reality of her future. "If my heart wasn't so broken, maybe I'd be better suited for getting out of here. I thought… he made me happy, and now he's gone. I should have tried harder."

Kagome sniffled.

"But in the end he saw right through me," Kagome whispered and then felt a bump against her nose. Buyo stared up at her sincerely. Kagome smiled a watery smile and pet the little kitten down the length of its entire body. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be thinking of this."

With that, the cat nodded, turned around and trotted towards the door, rising higher and higher I the air as it went. Kagome watched it go, wondering what it was doing. She sat, patiently, at the window, awaiting the return of her familiar. She sat for what felt like hours, and the kitten did not appear.

Just when Kagome was starting to get very worried and the sun was starting to sink below the horizon, Buyo returned, looking distinctly rounder than before.

The familiar landed before her and opened its mouth. Kagome stared at it as a small saw fell from its open mouth. Kagome retreated wildly, looking bewildered.

"You! Didn't that hurt?" she asked her now skinny familiar. "How did you do that without cutting yourself? I don't know, you won't be able to answer anyway. But you've gotten me a saw! Thank you, Buyo."

The kitten mewled happily before curling up on her shoulder, tucked beneath the tiny wisps of hair that'd been unevenly cut by the sword. That seemed so long ago now, back when she'd tried to be ugly in their eyes, to break the prophecy. She wanted to return to a normal life, but she knew now that she couldn't just disregard her kingdom. She had to protect her people.

Taking the saw, with some difficulty do to the chains on her wrists, Kagome leaned over the chains on her ball and chain and quickly went to work, under Buyo's close inspection. She worked diligently for hours, intent on being free by sunrise.

---

"Ah, Cinders, good morning," Hojo greeted late morning. Kagome stared at him and said nothing. She rested beneath a blanket, blocking her free arms and legs from his view. She'd worked late into the night trying to free herself. With some help from minimal magic on Buyo's part, Kagome had succeeded in freeing herself. She'd be damned if she let Hojo notice and make all her work come to naught. Buyo slept beneath her dressed, curled up near her feet, warmed by his mistress' natural warmth.

"What do you want?" Kagome said at last, as Hojo leaned against the prison bars and smiled sweetly at her. Of course, Kagome could detect the veil of cruelty behind that innocent smile.

"To bring you news," the prince said, inspecting a piece of lint on his tunic. "It may or may not bring you joy."

"Do tell."

"It appears as if the rebellion and your precious little magician have teamed up," Hojo said as if reporting upon the weather and the unusual heat. "It appears as if they're building up their forces to attack the castle."

"But why?" Kagome squeaked, fear overshadowing her.

"Isn't it obvious, Cinders? They come for you. And to overthrow my family. But it matters naught. They will all be killed or enslaved. They're foolish if they think they can overcome my family. It'll be impossible, even if we are still mortals."

"They're not foolish."

"Oh?"

"No. They are hanging onto hope. And that makes them strong."

"A hopeless dream does not make one strong."

"It is not hopeless," Kagome said, and she stood up, still clutching the blanket. She heard Buyo give a tired little snort, but mostly ignored this new movement. Kagome glared at him from the other side of the bars. "There is always hope. As long as they keep striving for that goal, they will succeed. One cannot throw away hope and confidence."

Kagome felt Buyo weaving between her ankles and she realized what Buyo represented. What she'd lost up until this point. She swallowed and stood up a bit straighter, regarding the prince coolly.

"Your family will fall."

"Confident for a prisoner," Hojo remarked and smirked. "Do not worry. We are making the proper preparations for you, Cinders. Soon it will all be over for you and it really will be futile for Inuyasha and those damned bandits."

"They will never fall. As long as there is hope."

"The Bandit King _will_ fall," Hojo insisted.

"The Bandit King is not the king who shall be falling," Kagome promised, smirking at Hojo in a purely Inuyasha-like fashion. She felt his borrowed magic pulse inside her and her heart warmed. She had to have hope. She had to be confident enough to take care of herself.

"You should save yourself the delusion. Nobody is going to save you," Hojo snapped and turned on his heel. "I will leave you now. You are obviously too delusional to have a reasonable conversation with. Good day, Cinders."

Kagome watched him go before strolling to the iron bars that held her in. She gripped them and stared out after where he disappeared, and where a guard leaned casually against the wall, sitting in a chair and dozing.

Kagome looked down at Buyo, who regarded her solemnly.

"I am not a dainty little flower that will sit idly by as she waits for her Prince Charming to come," she snarled angrily. She threw a kick at the prison bars and a resounding metal clank ran through the dark dungeon. The guard snorted from his position but did not awaken.

Kagome leaned against the bars and smirked down at her familiar. The little cat mewled happily, pleased to see his mistress high above, looking confident again—something she'd lost but had no regained.

"I may not be a princess anymore, I may just be a commoner. But I will not give up. I cannot wait here for some man to come by and save me. It won't happen, and longing for it to happen is foolish of me and of any girl who resigns herself to a man's rescue."

With a nod of her head and she moved to the window, where she'd already begun sawing off the bars, the saw tucked away from Hojo's view. She started working, glancing over her shoulder for any guard that might come by. She looked down at Buyo and nodded towards the prison door. The familiar got the message and moved over to the entrance of the prison to keep a look out for his mistress.

"I am not some delicate creature that can't take care of myself," Kagome declared as she threw as much of her strength as she could into her task. She regarded the kingdom before her and nodded her head. "No one is going to save me. Hojo's right about that. It's time that I saved myself."


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Open Your Eyes  
****Chapter Eighteen**

_Warning:_ Unbetaed. So it's probably a plethora of typos.

---

She lived. She breathed. She let the magic rain on her. She tried not to break.

"I need to get out," Kagome whispered to herself. The bars to the window were proving most difficult to break, and she was still faced with what to do once she had an exit via window. She kept working, until Buyo meowed and Kagome knew a guard or Hojo was coming.

He would come and check on her occasionally, making sure she hadn't killed herself or done anything foolish like that. She'd taken mind to hide her saw carefully each time, but it was only a matter of time before Hojo noticed that some of the bars on the window were sawed off. Kagome awaited that day in fear, racing against the clock to gain her freedom and save Inuyasha and the rebellion. She would not allow them to throw away their lives.

It was three days after Kagome started sawing the windows that she realized the army was assembling on the castle grounds. The smell of campfires and hastily done meals wafted through the window while Kagome worked. When asked about it, Hojo merely stated that his father was preparing the necessary accessories for a strong monarchy, and that they would eliminate the rebellion before they even set foot out of the forbidden forest.

From her window Kagome could see her other prison. From time to time, she would see a figure and believe that perhaps it was her stepmother or her stepsisters. Kagome could never tell from so far away who was who, or if they were happy or not. It was bittersweet to be regarding that hellhole with such indifference now.

Kagome heard a small squeak and she whipped around in time to see the little kitten, Buyo, her familiar, dive into her chest and disappear in a puff of smoke. Kagome felt complete again and realized he'd returned to the place where he'd come from. She blinked a couple times before she realized that Hojo stood outside the prison, with two guards flanked on either side.

She realized belatedly that she must have missed Buyo's cautionary call and then realized she was still holding her saw. She dropped it quickly, but it was too late. Hojo had seen what she'd been doing, saw her familiar, and knew exactly what she was up to.

"Hmm," he said, sounding slightly amused by Kagome's courage. He rolled his shoulders and then nodded to the guard on his left side. The man stepped forward and unlocked the prison door before stalking towards Kagome.

"What are you doing?" Kagome barked as the man grabbed her wrist and tugged. She tried to summon some magic, but she was too panicked to focus. Instead, she leaned down and grabbed the broken leg of her chair, wielding it like a club. She bashed it against her captor's shoulder and he hissed in pain before releasing her.

Kagome backtracked, still clutching the club tightly, and trying to summon the courage to charge against the other guard and Hojo. Unfortunately for her, the guard on Hojo's right side had drawn his sword and now stood between the prince and the captor.

"I admire your spunk, Cinders. It's very unbecoming for a princess, though. You should be seen, not heard." He regarded her with a condescending tilt of his head. Kagome tried to step around the guard, but he followed her movements. Hojo smiled. "Happy birthday."

The words ran Kagome's heart cold. Her eyes widened and she stared at him in shock.

"You're eighteen today, am I right?" Hojo continued on casually. "Unfortunately for you, Cinders, it's time to fulfill the prophecy. Father's orders."

"No!" Kagome declared loudly, glancing over her shoulder at her almost-freedom. She swallowed and took a step backwards, angling herself towards her saw, to have an additional weapon. Why hadn't she made this blasted chair leg into a spear while she had the chance?

"I'm afraid you have no choice in the matter, Cinders," Hojo said with a smirk. He nodded to the two guards, and, together they descended upon them. Kagome didn't reach her saw in time, but she did throw the broken leg to the chair and made a dash for it.

She charged towards Hojo, who hadn't expected such a feat, and, thus, was unprepared when Kagome threw a punch right to his stomach. He doubled over in surprise and a whoosh of air rushed from his lungs as Kagome raced past, wobbly on her unused legs, but unwilling to stop. She slammed the door open and ran down unfamiliar hallways and staircases.

"Get her! Stop her!" she heard Hojo shout behind her, obviously regaining his breath.

She ran. She ran faster than she ever had in her life. She ran for her life, searching for a way to get out. A way to free herself. Her lungs screamed at her, begging her to stop. Her feet pounded against the stone loudly, echoing in her ears like firebombs exploding in her eardrums.

She nearly tripped as she threw a door open and slammed it behind her. She rested against the door, not daring to breathe until she heard the footsteps fade away on the other side of the door. Breathing a sigh of relief, Kagome doubled over, eagerly sucking in air to appease her throbbing heart and protesting lungs.

When she finally regained composure, she looked up and realized she was not alone in the room.

It was a dark room, curtains drawn over the windows. Candles lit the entire room in a soft, yellow glow. The woman sat silently in a chair, watching the door with a blank expression in her eyes. Kagome swallowed as she regarded the woman, sitting regally in the chair, but looking asleep with her eyes open.

"E-excuse me," Kagome said, curtseying clumsily. She really wasn't princess material, after all.

The woman in the room did not respond, just stared ahead blankly. She barely breathed. She didn't blink. Just stared. Always staring.

Kagome took a hesitant step forward. "Are you okay?"

She moved towards her, casting shadows across the room, running away from Kagome in all directions until she was the center of a star. She stood before the woman, draped in yards of clothe and jewels. The woman's eyes flickered until the violet orbs rested on Kagome's blue ones. Kagome stood perfectly still, regarding the woman before her, rivers of black hair tumbling down her back and over her shoulder.

"You're Inuyasha's mother," Kagome realized, staring into the violet eyes. "Inuyasha once had lavender eyes, didn't he?"

The woman looked like a lost child, and she saw the lavender eyes flicker. "I…" Kagome was shocked when she spoke, and she jolted a bit. The woman continued, her voice soft and almost inaudible, "I do not have a child named Inuyasha. He is dead."

"No, he's alive!"

The half-dead queen shook her head, very slowly, and her lavender eyes misted over. "My two eldest… my darling Sesshoumaru… my darling Inuyasha… you are dead now… you died… you died… you died…"

"No, Inuyasha is alive!" Kagome screeched, touching the woman's' shoulders.

The woman reeled back, jerking away at the half-fairy's touch. "He is dead… he is dead… he is dead…"

"He's not dead!"

"My husband… my sons… they're dead… they're all dead…"

"No! Please! Listen to me! You were tricked! You were tortured and tricked into thinking he was dead, but he is alive! Inuyasha's alive, can't you see that? You are supposed to be a Seer!"

She grabbed the woman's hands and the woman's eyes flew wide open, the lavender depths going opaque and unseeing. Kagome dropped the hands quickly, but it was too late. The woman's mouth flopped open and she started breathing loudly, her eyes wide open to something Kagome could not see. Her shoulders shook and her nostrils flared as something bombarded her. Kagome tried to touch her, but it was as if there was something blocking her from seeing what it was. The woman cried out, but Kagome couldn't answer.

The woman bowed forward and grabbed the fabric of Kagome's tunic. The girl squeaked as the queen swiveled her head and stared at Kagome with opaque eyes.

"The King… will fall…" she whispered and Kagome realized in that moment that she'd somehow sparked a vision from this woman. "You… you will fall… to the ground… you will fall… your soul will break…"

"What…?" Kagome whispered, fear gripping her.

The woman continued as if Kagome had not spoken, "…The King will… he will…"

The woman was whispering, and whatever she was about to say was drowned out as the door smashed open. "We heard screaming!" a guard shouted as he entered, "Your Majesty we—"

Kagome realized she should have been escaping, not speaking with Inuyasha's husk of a mother. The woman had fallen silent, the last sentence of her prophecy passed unheard by Kagome. The girl tried to run again, but Hojoj had appeared, looking worried. He rushed forward and Kagome froze. But the boy passed her by and grabbed his mother's hands.

"Mother, are you well?" he asked, unrestrained emotion in his voice.

The woman had returned to her former self, resting in the chair and saying nothing, staring at Hojo as if she did not recognize him. Kagome stared in shock as Hojo tried to care for his mother without a word from the half-dead queen.

The guards held Kagome tightly as Hojo fretted over the woman. "Mother," Hojo was saying, "Please, did she do something to you?"

Inuyasha's mother said nothing, just continued to stare ahead of her, her lips not moving, her eyes unblinking. Hojo clenched his eyes shut before turning on his heel and striding towards Kagome. He looked livid and he punched her hard across the face. She gasped as pain welled up in her cheek and felt it begin to swell.

"What did you do to my mother?"

"Nothing," Kagome protested. "I touched her and she started predicting the future."

Hojo looked angrier instead of reassured by Kagome's words. "Fairy blood reacts with a Seer's blood. How dare you touch her? How dare you!"

"You dare to call yourself her son?" Kagome snapped back. "She's in mourning, still. Your father lead her to believe terrible things… tortured her… forced himself upon her! If you really cared about her, you would release her, you would—"

He punched her again. "Hold your tongue, you little whore."

Kagome glared at him, her blue eyes twin chips of ice. With a nod of his head, Hojo lead the guards away from his mother, shutting the doors tightly behind him. Kagome was dragged along roughly, down flights and flights of steps until Kagome was sure they couldn't possibly be above ground. They yanked on her hair and her clothes, dragging her along.

"No, sto—"

"Be quiet," Hojo snapped as the guards threw her against a wall. They were in a dungeon and she fell to the dank, dirty ground with a tiny groan of pain. Her cheek throbbed from Hojo's earlier punch and she tenderly sat up again, glaring at the prince and his guards defiantly.

Slowly, the guards descended upon her and chained her to the wall. She struggled as best she could, but she was no match for the large men. They suspended her about three feet above the ground, her wrists and her ankles chained to the wall. She hurt all over. She tried to struggle, but her body screamed in protest.

The dungeon was huge, with a high tower and a large, open space. Kagome had never seen anything so large underground before, and she felt small and forgotten in the darkness. She couldn't even see the ceiling for lack of darkness.

Hojo regarded her indifferently, but his cold eyes struggled to contain some unknown emotion in their depths. He held a long dagger in his hand, regarding it lazily, as if holding a mere utensil and not a deadly weapon. He tilted his head, lolling it towards her as he regarded her coolly.

"I will enjoy this," he told her solemnly. Kagome glared at him darkly. He rolled his shoulders. "Very much."

"Burn in hell," Kagome spat.

Hojo eyed her, as if slightly surprised to hear the princess say such words. But he held a long, lazy smile, regarding the dagger again with a professional eye.

"I will never see the afterlife, darling Cinders," he informed her gravely. "I will live forever."

As he spoke, the door opened and the entire royal family streamed in, accompanied by guard and advisors. In the great dungeon hall, they all stood, silent. The entire populace of the castle was audience to her humiliation, chained to the wall like a prize to be won. She continued to stare as Hojo's father strolled up to his son's side, Inuyasha's mother draped on his arm like a half-broken doll. She didn't seem to even comprehend where she was or why she was there in the first place. She just stared.

Hojo's father—the man who supposedly looked like Inuyasha's dead father—regarded her stoically, the tiniest of smiles prickling at the corners of his lips. He regarded her, and Kagome spat in his general direction, her eyes narrowing and her fists clenching. The man idly wiped the spittle from his cheek and said nothing.

He turned towards his son, who stood the tiniest bit straighter, regarding his father like one would a god. "It is ready, father."

"Proceed then," the king said darkly.

Hojo's eyes widened. "S-sire?"

The king nodded towards the half-fairy pinned to the wall. "Do you believe I would bloody my hands with such trash? She may be dangerous. It is your job, as the subject of your king, to proceed with the prophecy."

"He's afraid of it backfiring," Kagome sneered from her position. "He doesn't want to give the prophecy any chance to fail. If he doesn't do the deed, then he thinks there's no way his kingdom will crumble."

Hojo glanced at his mother, his eyes lingering on her pale, blank visage. Sighing, he stood up a bit straighter and clutched the dagger firmly in his hand. Something flickered in his eyes as he watched Kagome, chained to the wall and staring down at him with only deep embedded hatred in her eyes. His knuckles were turning white.

"This is where you die," Hojo told her, and his voice echoed in the quiet hall.

Kagome stared at him and breathed in sharply, puffing her chest out. She shifted and the chains holding her clinked against the wall. She stared at him impassively, her blue eyes burning. "Can you really kill me, Hojo?"

The prince froze and stared at her, and she kept her eyes on him. She watched him, searching for a flicker of… of _anything_ that let her know that some humanity still remained inside his power-hungry heart. But he continued to stare at her, a range of emotions flickering behind a passive, neutral mask.

Silently, Hojo bent his head and started carving the dagger into the stone below Kagome. Apparently the dagger was enchanted, because he barely had to work to engrave the stone with ancient runes. They seemed to glow in the near darkness and, despite Kagome's inexperience with such things, Kagome could feel the magic coursing through the room in a jet stream of power. It seemed to crawl up her body, caressing her skin like a lover's gentle touch. She snapped her eyes shut and sparkles burst behind her eyelids as she felt the surge of magic envelope her completely. She hissed quietly as the gentle touch began to prickle her skin like a thousand needles.

Hojo had finished carving the runes, and he took a step backwards to admire his work. The runes were glowing a light blue now, like a late autumn sky, and the pinpricks of power kept Kagome from concentrating on something for too long. Hojo was still watching her with that indescribable look and he moved slowly, stepping around her in a semi-circle, starting from one wall to the other. She realized vaguely, as she waded past the beginnings of pain, that he was chanting something in an ancient tongue.

As he finished there was a spike of magic and Kagome cried out in pain before she could stop herself. Her fists clenched and she squeezed her eyes shut. She panted, trying to force the nausea bubbling in her chest.

"And now you release your power to us," Hojo told her firmly as he raised the dagger above his head, pointed at her chest, just above her heart.

Kagome shook her head. "No… no… don't touch me."

She felt something bubbling up inside her and she embraced it, trying to summon whatever was clawing at her insides, itching, yearning to be released. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to give them what she wanted. She wanted to live. She wanted to protect Inuyasha, regardless of how he felt about her.

She screamed loudly as the dagger came at her.

Whatever was scratching inside her burst out from that scream, knocking those in close proximity backwards a couple yards. The chains around her rattled and she opened her eyes in time to see her familiar emerging from her chest, its hackles up and its claws drawn.

Buyo landed on the ground in a burst of air, a whirlwind encircling its rapidly growing body. When the air dissipated, a lion emerged where the little kitten once stood. It threw its head back and its mane swirled around its ears and its angered face. The lion growled, low, arching its back and encircling Kagome in a half-circle similar to what Hojo had done earlier.

Hojo stared at the familiar with wide, disbelieving eyes. He took a hesitant step backwards and Buyo locked eyes with the prince before roaring loudly, the long expanse of a lion's scream echoing in the empty chambers of the dungeon hall.

The prince stared at the lion before glancing at his father. The lion familiar growled and advanced on the young prince, its piercing eyes locked on the dagger in the boy's hands. His father nodded and Hojo muttered something else in an ancient, dead language. Something shimmered along the blade of the dagger before he darted forward, throwing the dagger at the lion.

"No!" Kagome screamed as it pierced through the thick coat that protected her familiar. She stared at the lion staggered.

Tears streamed down her eyes and she felt a spike of pain press against the inside of her heart. Her chest throbbed and she saw nothing but red. She felt the chains rattle without being aware of her own movement. Her chest heaved without knowing she was breathing. Her eyes locked on Hojo, who stared at her in shock.

Kagome felt as if something had been ripped away from her. Her familiar was part of her soul, and now it was struggling to stand with a dagger in its side. She stared at it, disbelief in her angered eyes as she tried to reign in her emotions and failed.

"How dare you," she hissed and she found herself able to speak because she couldn't feel the pain in her body anymore. The chains rattled. "How dare you."

Something cracked in her and something snapped and disappeared with her last thread of sanity. She began screaming, feeling a crackling of power as it surged through her. With a shaking hand, Hojo leaned over and pulled the dagger from the struggling familiar's side. It snapped at his hand, but Hojo was too quick for the injured lion.

The prince approached Kagome, dagger at ready. Kagome felt a spike of power erupt from her and whirl at Hojo. The boy dodged it in time to have it only knick his shoulder. He hissed and stumbled in pain before he stood before her, the shining blue runes at his feet. He raised the dagger and hurled it into her chest.

Whatever was surrounding her in waves of power erupted, as if she were slowly deflating. The dagger was piercing her skin, yet it didn't hurt. The enchanted dagger was pulling something from within her. The ashes on her face, in her hair, and on her clothes sprinkled away from her, peppering the floor at her feet.

"I can feel the power," she heard the king say as Kagome screamed, feeling something ripping away from her painfully, so different from when Buyo took form. "It's happening. Our immortality. Or prophecy!"

Kagome continued to writhe and scream in pain, feeling something ripping from her chest. She watched in awe as a tiny thread of silver light seemed to peel from her chest as Hojo tugged the dagger away from her. The banner of silver wavered and shimmered in the swirling waves of magic saturating the air in the dungeon hall. Kagome's eyes flew open as she took in her surroundings. Her soul ripping away from her. Buyo struggling on the ground. The king laughing. The queen looking blankly forward. And Hojo. Her first love.

As the silver glided away from her, Kagome realized that she, too, was glowing a slight silver. Her black hair wavered and rippled, and her eyes, wide open, regarded her body shining a bright white-silver. As Hojo took a step out of the semi-circle of blue runes, the dagger shattered. The silver banner of Kagome's soul danced in the air, swirling around itself and dancing between the ripples of magic. Hojo stared in shock as the silver spread to the chains, and her bounds snapped into dust, falling to the ground to accompany the ashes.

Kagome landed gracefully on her feet. She seemed to float downwards. Her blue eyes wavered and turned silver. Her hair turned silver. Her entire body glowed silver. She took a step forward and the runes on the ground shattered and disappeared. The room was bathed in darkness for half a second, before Kagome's incandescent silver light filtered through the air, casting long, uneasy shadows.

"How dare you threaten my blood," Kagome said in a voice that didn't sound like her own. It sounded regal and _unnatural_. It sounded immortal. Her silver eyes wavered on Hojo's horrified face before flickering to the kind. "You have tread past the boundaries that were lain before man in the early days of the Earth. You have invaded on a sacred and concealed truth that cannot be denied. You ignored the prophecy and believed your own foolish wishes could become reality."

"Wait…" the king said, and, for the first time, there was a crack in his face.

"You must pay the divine punishment for seeking immortality," Kagome continued in the voice that wasn't hers. She raised her hand against her own will and something surged to her fingertips. Buyo, now a little kitten again, mewled desperately at its mistress, but Kagome paid her familiar no heed. "For those who seek immortality shall lose everything that made their life worthy."

"Please, what—"

"I will steal everything that you hold dear," Kagome's not-voice continued stoically as the silver seemed to collect in her hand. Then, slowly, she pointed at Hojo and a silver beam of light shot from her fingertip, striking him in the chest. The boy had time to give a small intake of breath before he toppled to the ground, his breath ragged. Kagome continued on until every single child of the king laid on the ground, desperately trying to seek air.

"No, you must—"

"There is always a price for your wish," Kagome continued, despite the horror she felt surging in her heart. She could not stop it. "You have transgressed against the ancient treaties of the Beginning of Time. You have violated something sacred, foolish king. You must pay the price for your foolishness. You will lose everything that made your life worth living."

More silver shot from her hand and the guards were dead where they stood. With a flood of silver light, her magic sought every crevice and opening, flooding the entire castle with her magic. She felt the reaches of her magic touch every corner of the castle and ensnaring the guards remaining within the walls. She could somehow hear them fall. The only remaining people standing in the castle were Kagome, the king, and the queen.

"What is it that you value more?" Kagome whispered. Her hand, shaking, pointed towards the half-dead queen. She watched Kagome impassively, as if watching a cloud drift by her window. Kagome struggled against her body, trying to stop it, trying to stop from killing Inuyasha's mother.

Kagome's knees quivered. "No…"

Buyo mewled from the ground, trying to reach Kagome, but unable. Kagome tried to stop as the silver magic collected at her fingertips, aiming at the heart of an already long gone queen.

"No! Stop!" the king shouted, and his stoic mask broke and he looked utterly terrified and desperate. "Don't kill her!"

"Stop now, my child," a voice whispered in her ear and Kagome felt her blood sing as she turned her head to stare at her mother. Midoriko regarded the girl with an indescribable look before she reached out a silver hand and touched Kagome's hand, pushing it downwards until it was at her side.

The king wasted no time. He grabbed the hand of the queen and dashed from the room, their footsteps echoing off the walls. The queen followed behind him with no recognition that she was running.

"Mother…" Kagome whispered before her knees quivered and she fell to the ground. She felt tears collecting in her eyes. "What have I… what have I done?"

"What your blood was born to do," Midoriko explained sadly. "We are a dwindling and ancient race, Kagome. Fairy blood is rare and valuable. We have necessary precautions to protect ourselves from things such as humans searching for immortality."

"Did I… kill them?" Kagome whispered, staring at Inuyasha's half-siblings. She'd only really known Hojo, but the others… she had never known them. Were they innocent? She crawled over to Hojo's collapsed form.

The boy was still breathing—but just barely. He stared at her with wide eyes.

"You look different," he remarked as if stating the weather. He tilted his head slightly and cringed as pain coursed through his body. Kagome stared at him with wide eyes. Tears spilled from her cheeks. "…Are you crying for me, Cinders?"

"No," Kagome said fiercely. "I'm not."

"No. I wouldn't expect you to," Hojo said honestly and his eyes fell shut. He breathed in sharply and the breath rattled in his chest. "I just wanted the power… I just wanted…"

"You're foolish," Kagome said, trying to force the tears back. How could she have done something like this? How could she have forced the entire royal family into death?

Hojo smiled wanly, and, for a second, he looked like the man she'd fallen in love with. "Perhaps. No… you're right. Yes… I just… wanted to be strong. So that… so that Mother would acknowledge me."

"Foolish," Kagome told him again. "She wouldn't have wanted this, would she?'

"I do not know. I never knew Mother. But I loved her. I just… I was not the one she wanted to see," Hojo said and a dark sense of hatred danced in his eyes. "It was only Inuyasha. Always him."

His eyes clenched and he hissed in pain as blood leaked from behind his teeth. Kagome stared in horror. "I hadn't wanted this."

"You are truly the most beautiful girl of your world," Hojo said lightly as his voice failed him. He struggled to speak. "Your kindness is your weakness, Kagome."

This time when he said her name, it wasn't with malice or hatred. Kagome stared at him, unable to summon pity for him. Only deep sadness and regret.

"I suppose it would be too terrible of me to ask for your forgiveness."

"You tried to kill me, you were willing to rip my soul away from me in order to give your father immortality," Kagome said quietly. She still glowed silver, but it had dimmed. "I do not know if I can forgive you. If I ever do… it'll be for myself. Never for you."

He smiled distantly. He opened his eyes but they didn't focus on anything. He was seeing something far beyond her.

"Perhaps you're right," was all he said before he died.

Kagome stared down at his still body and slowly stood. She wondered how she could feel sadness for his passing despite his cruelty, his deceiving nature, and his willingness to kill her. This time the two tears that slipped from her eyes were for him, but she would never admit to such a thing. Even if it'd been under false pretences, he'd taken her away from the hell that was her life. And while he hadn't exactly given her the paradise she'd expected, he'd lead her to the life she now lead.

She turned towards Midoriko. "Is it my fault they're dead?"

Midoriko said nothing, but the absence of a no did not mean there was an absence of a yes, as well. Kagome bowed her head. She saw the silver outline of her mother approach her and touch her shoulder gently, in a motherly, comforting fashion. Kagome felt her heart clench.

Slowly she felt something rub against her legs and looked down to see her familiar, staring up at her with knowing eyes. She knelt down and touched the soft head of the little kitten.

"Buyo…" Kagome said, tears filling her eyes. "You were so brave."

The kitten mewled before diving into her chest and disappearing with a puff. Her soul was complete, but she felt empty.

"We should leave," the fairy mother said and Kagome nodded her head and allowed the woman to lead her down dark corridors until she found sunlight again from stained glass windows.

"I killed them. It's my fault," Kagome said quietly as she began walking towards the entrance. As she pushed the door open she froze in shock at the fallen bodies of dead soldiers. It looked as if they'd been sleeping until Kagome saw the thin lines of blood running from their mouths. Her knees wobbled and she fell to the ground. "It's my fault."

"Kagome…"

"It's all my fault," Kagome whispered as she clutched her head and let the tears slip from her eyes. "I killed them. I'm a murderer. They didn't deserve this! Nobody deserves death."

"We must move," Midoriko whispered. "You are not safe here."

"Mother," Kagome cried out and whipped her head towards her. "I'm a human! I'm not a fairy! I shouldn't have the power to do such cruel, terrible things! They're dead because of me! One of the children of the king is a mere child! And now she is dead!"

"That was the prophecy. The king took that risk thinking he could fool destiny."

"I did not wish for this!"

"They were born to die on this day," Midoriko said serenely.

"No! I cannot accept that!" Kagome shouted.

"If you cannot accept reality then you will continue to live in a delusion," Midoriko said calmly. "Run. The king will find you soon and it is best if you get as far from this castle, from this kingdom, as you possibly can. Run, my child."

Kagome, despite her grief and her overwhelming guilt at what she'd done, heeded her mother's words and began running. She raced from the front gates to the castle, reassured that nobody seemed to have noticed anything amiss in the castle. The world continued on despite the fact that hers was shattered. She ran until she was panting. She ran and ran and ran until she was safe within the Enchanted Forest.

She didn't feel safe. It was as if every tree were whispering to her of her sins. She'd killed people today, and even if she hadn't been in control of the magic in her blood, the fact remained that she'd been the one to kill the populace of the castle. She tripped over roots and she cried. At this point Midoriko had faded away and Buyo hadn't emerged. She was completely and utterly alone.

And as she ran into a clearing her eyes widened in shock at the man who waited for her. Hojo's father stood there, tall and proud as a king should look, even if he were a king under false pretenses. Kagome froze in her steps, staring at the man in shock.

"You killed them…" he whispered, and his voice echoed in the eerily silent forest. "You killed them all."

"I…"

The man surged forward, unoccupied by his grief to hazard caution towards the half-fairy. He grabbed her by the front of her clothes and hauled her off the ground, dangling her like a lose piece of string. He glared at her, fury etched forever into his features. For one brief moment she thought she could see something in those eyes that reminded her of Inuyasha, but it was gone as quickly as it'd come. This was not Inuyasha's father.

"I'll kill you. I'll make you suffer for taking it all away from me," the man hissed.

"…It's what I deserve," Kagome managed to say. The weight of their deaths on her shoulders was more than she could stand.

"You may be beautiful, fairy, but you will suffer and rot in hell," the man continued as if he hadn't heard Kagome's words. He shook her a bit and watched as her head flopped around. He glared at her darkly. "You may have ethereal beauty, but you are nothing but trash in my eyes."

He threw her to the ground and Kagome laid there for a moment, her eyes shut, accepting her fate.

"It's what I deserve," Kagome whispered.

But was it? Kagome paused as the thought assaulted her mind as the king threw a kick to her side and sent her rolling along the grass of the Enchanted Forest. She blinked her eyes open and stared at the trees.

Is it what the Princess Kagome deserves?

The trees were whispering to her, Kagome noted vaguely as another kick sent her closer to the trees. She closed her eyes again and felt the gentle whispers of an ancient magic stretching past their roots. Yes, they were speaking with her.

Is this how the Princess Kagome wishes to end her life?

Kagome swallowed. It was what she deserved.

Eventually all creatures die, immortality is merely an illusion, the trees coaxed quietly, their leaves wavering in a late summer breeze. Kagome's body stiffened as she felt a heavy boot come down on her back. She cringed and the trees hissed their sympathy.

Is this how the Princess Kagome will use The True King's sacrifice?

Kagome froze and felt her heart clench. Inuyasha had saved her from them. He'd given her magic. He'd protected her. He'd teleported away. Even if he didn't love her, these were not the actions of a man who hated a woman. He'd done something for her that she would never be able to pay back.

He'd taken her to the sea. And his eyes, weathered and worn like the sea glass, had flickered for a brief moment with her. For a brief moment she could see past the pain, past the anguish, past the determination of revenge… and see a young man. She loved him.

Is this how the Princess Kagome will use The True King's sacrifice, the trees asked again.

Kagome struggled against the boot grinding into her back. She grabbed the ankle and tugged. The king lost his balance and staggered backward. Kagome, with unsteady legs, stood on her feet and glared at him. She felt blood running from her lip, but she did not care. Her face was swollen from Hojo's punches, but she did not care. She could feel her back and sides bruising, but she did not care.

"I will not die here," she vowed.

"We'll see about that, wench," he snarled.

Kagome regarded him with determined blue eyes. Even in the dying sunlight, Kagome could tell that she still glowed vaguely silver. The power was within her. She'd embraced it. It would protect her. She would not die here. Not today.

"I will not die here," Kagome said again, and her fists clenched.

The man came towards her, and Kagome tried to summon her magic. She managed to send out a small gust of wind that knocked the frantic man backwards, but it did little to deter his anguish-ridden mind. He charged her again and grabbed her by the throat.

He lifted her up and squeezed her air pipe. She choked and tried to swallow. He squeezed again and she struggled, kicking her feet. She grazed the inside of his legs and the man shuddered for a moment before he regained control—for she'd only just kicked. Kagome threw another kick and caught his gut this time. He keeled over as the air rushed from his lungs.

He dropped her and she rolled away, coughing. She struggled to her feet and glared at him.

"I will kill you!" the man declared.

"You will not touch her again," a voice off to Kagome's right said coolly. Kagome recognized that voice.

She whipped her head around as the true king emerged from the darkness of the Enchanted Forest. He looked different from when she'd last seen him. His hair had grown a bit longer and it curled slightly around his chin. His milky eye stared blankly ahead and his piercing golden eye stared at the king, avoiding Kagome's eyes.

His entire left side was smeared in blood—but Kagome couldn't be sure whose blood it was. He wore a long brown cloak that wavered in the wind, the hood of the cloak poised slightly on his head, on the verge of slipping off.

And in his hands he held his mother, cradled against his chest.


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Open Your Eyes  
****Chapter Nineteen**

---

The woman in Inuyasha's arms didn't move, and her eyes were closed to the world. The wind stirred her hair but, aside from the external push, made no move of her own. Inuyasha didn't say anything for a long moment, his mismatched eyes trained on something beyond both the king and Kagome.

"Inuyasha…" Kagome said, but the Bandit King ignored her, his eyes locking on Hojo's father.

The man's eyes were on the queen nestled in Inuyasha's arms. "What did you do to her?"

For a moment, something flared in Inuyasha's eyes, but it was quickly suppressed. "I could ask you the same thing," he said coolly, his voice crisp like a day in October. "But you believe yourself to be innocent, so such a question would be futile, I suppose."

"What did you do to her?" the man demanded, sounding hysterical.

"She's dead," Inuyasha said plainly, and his next words were nearly drowned out by the false king's roar of agony, "She's at rest."

"How dare you? How dare you?" the man proclaimed loudly.

"She didn't recognize me," Inuyasha continued, lolling his head downwards to stare at his mother's face—pristine and gentle, as if she were sleeping. "She didn't know who I was when I came to her. She was desperate for death. Even if she couldn't say it, her soul informed me loud and clear."

"How dare you?" the man continued.

"How dare I?" Inuyasha questioned, lifting his face and staring at the man, a deadly calm in his eyes. "How dare I, you ask me? How dare you?"

The man dove forward and grabbed the front of Kagome's dress, hurling her upwards. She gasped in surprise, Inuyasha's name on her lips before she even realized she was in danger. She hated herself for that devotion to him, for that automatic assumption that she needed protection. The man above her throttled her for a moment before punching her cheek, exactly where Hojo had struck her.

"I will rip away your happiness like you did mine," the man vowed.

"You ripped away my happiness long ago," Inuyasha informed the man coolly. "Release the princess. You have no right to touch her. Your dreams are ruined. Your kingdom shall fall on this day."

"No!" the man screamed. "I'll kill you both! You," he said, shaking Kagome, "for taking away everything that was precious to me, and you," he said with a glare as he turned his attention towards Inuyasha, "for taking away my one true treasure."

Inuyasha regarded him coolly before gently placing his mother down, cushioning her body against the sturdy trunk of a tree. Standing fully upright, the wind rustling his cloak, he turned towards the king. The blood smearing his skin beneath his milky white eye was unnerving as he approached to the two people in the field. Kagome could tell right away what was waiting behind those eyes. She tried to speak.

"Inuyasha… don't…"

"Don't say a word," Inuyasha barked, his words piercing her heart. "Don't you dare deny me this. I have lived for this moment. I have nothing else to look forward to until I extract my revenge. Do not say a _word._"

At this, he withdrew his sword and it glittered in his hand as he marched towards Kagome and the king. The man backtracked, holding Kagome before him like a shield as he tried to shuffle away, his eyes wide and ferocious like a wild animal's. Inuyasha seemed unconcerned and continued forward, brandishing his sword so the tip of the sword pointed towards the king's head.

With his other hand, Inuyasha wavered the air, his fingertips passing through something invisible before the man holding Kagome suddenly froze. He gasped for air behind her and Kagome stared as Inuyasha approached, not even acknowledging her existence, as the sword shot out and hit the crown nestled on the top of the king's head. It fell to the ground with a dull thud, rolling in the grass before disappearing from her view.

"You have no right to stand before me and question my motives. She wished to die, her soul was crying," Inuyasha told the man stoically, the tip of the sword pressed against his throat. The man's hold on Kagome loosened, and she jerked away, retreating instinctively towards the trees. She realized, belatedly, that she was approaching Inuyasha's mother's dead body and a chill ran through her. Inuyasha's face was still harsh as he stared. "I did merely what a king would do."

The man screamed out in his agony and Kagome was thankful that her back was turned. She knelt down before the woman as Inuyasha and the king fought one another in the field. She heard the sound of another sword being drawn. She stared at the woman she never really knew and felt strange.

She heard the sounds of battle behind her but she found it hard to turn around to face it. Revenge. It was a terrible, terrible thing. She knew that. But, at the same time, she couldn't deny Inuyasha this. Even if it killed her to know he was giving into these primal urges, she couldn't stand there and tell him he was wrong. He'd been wronged so terribly his entire life. This was the least she could do. Even if he hated her. This was her reality, and she had to let him find his own personal justice.

She heard the clanging of swords, the grunts of battle, and the hiss of agony as a sword sliced through flesh. Her heart raced and she turned around in time to see Inuyasha stagger backward, one hand gently touching his side, where blood was oozing out and staining his tunic. The words of protest died on her throat as he dove forward towards the king. Despite his valiant attempts to defend himself, it was obvious he was a broken man. He'd lost everything that he'd ever cared about. His kingdom. His family. His queen. There was nothing left in his eyes but the desire to kill and to hurt others.

He dove towards Inuyasha and the true king blocked and rolled away, a master of swords and magic. His hand gripping his bloodied side could no longer do the magic he'd been doing in the beginning. Swallowing, Kagome wondered if he would even accept her help should she offer it. Her heart throbbed and she wished that they were in a different circumstance. She wished that he loved her like she loved him.

She felt her heart swell and her eyes mist over. He fought before her, deflecting attacks from the sword with least earnest then he had before his injury. Kagome felt the magic tingling in her hands and raised them, staring at the false king as he tried to fight against the true king. Her eyes wavered. The king cried out and he whipped his head to the side. Kagome had no idea what she'd done, but she felt a chill run down her spine.

"I've lost it all," she heard the king say as he turned his eyes towards Inuyasha. "There is nothing more."

"No," Inuyasha agreed and then his blade pierced through the man's heart. The man choked in surprise, his eyes widening as the blade sunk through his chest and pierced his grieving, shriveled heart. Inuyasha betrayed nothing in his expression as the man fell to the ground. The man was dead before he hit the ground. Kagome felt tears roll down her cheeks and she wondered why she was crying. What reason could she possibly have to cry like this for a dead man who'd only wanted her to be dead instead? Deep down, even though she knew she had not been in control when it'd happen, she knew she was the cause of his unhappiness.

She looked up from the ground as Inuyasha approached her. He knelt and collected the forgotten crown in the grass. He stared at it for a long moment before tucking it under his arm and sheathing his sword. Then his mismatched eyes were on her and she could not move.

"Hello, Princess Kagome," he told her in a voice Kagome could not accurately describe.

"…Where are the bandits?" Kagome asked, her heart hurting at the title he gave her.

"They are fighting at the castle. With the rebellion, we outnumber them two to one. They will fall and the kingdom will be ours." He regarded her. "The trees told me where you were."

Kagome looked now at Inuyasha's mother. She looked as if she were sleeping. She watched as Inuyasha reached out a bloodied hand and touched her cheek, stroking away some limp black hair. She glanced at Inuyasha and saw such a look of tenderness in his golden eye that she was nearly heartbroken at the sight. Those eyes had been violet once.

Kagome looked away and sighed. "You've extracted your revenge."

"There is nothing more," Inuyasha agreed, his eyes indescribable again. He leaned backwards and slowly stood up. "I suppose it would be best to return you to your kingdom, Princess Kagome."

He leaned down and picked up his mother before gently lying her down before the tree. Kagome realized, belatedly, that he'd rested her against a weeping willow. The long branches created a small curtain and Inuyasha stepped back.

"Your mother…" Kagome began when it looked as if Inuyasha was to leave her there.

"Shh," he instructed, silencing her with a wave of his hand. His eyes fell shut and, instinctively, Kagome's did as well. She felt the gentle pulse and pull of magic and realized that feeling was coming from Inuyasha. She heard the ground shift and the trees sigh around her.

When she opened her eyes again, Inuyasha's mother was gone and all that remained was upturned Earth and a weeping willow. She glanced at Inuyasha as he dropped his hands and bowed his head for a moment in silent regard to his dead mother, who'd finally joined the rest of his family. He was all that was left of the great noble family.

"Let us take our leave," he said at last and turned away from where his mother was buried.

Kagome stood up and followed behind him. She watched the way the cloak wavered in the wind, bloodstained and battle-worn. He looked battle-worn. He looked empty and forgotten. He'd extracted his revenge, but, in the end, all he had was a kingdom.

"It appears you're truly the king now," Kagome told his back.

The man before her paused and shifted so he could regard the crown in his hand. He stared at it for a long moment before chuckling. It was mirthless and dry. It sounded fake and wrong to Kagome's ears and she shivered at the sound.

"I guess I am," he said after a moment. "I've spent my entire life yearning for the moment when I could reclaim my rightful place. I lived for this moment when I could avenge those who I've lost."

"Yes…" Kagome said, uncertain.

"And now I don't want it. It's never been what I wanted." He stared at the crown, his knuckles white. "I would rather have anything else. But not this."

"Inuyasha… I…"

"I should return you to your kingdom, Princess," Inuyasha cut her off.

Kagome's eyes narrowed and she frowned. She marched towards the man's unmoving body, spun him around and gripped his tunic. She tugged him downwards so they were meeting eye to eye. She glared at him and he stared at her mildly in surprise before his face closed off to a neutral expression.

"My name is Kagome. It has always been Kagome. I have been locked in a tower for weeks now, and they have never called me by name. I have nobody in my life now who will call me by name, except for you. You called me by name. But now you don't."

She released his tunic and took a step backwards, crossing her arms.

"To hear you call me a princess is painful for me." She looked away as she felt tears collect in her eyes. She breathed in deeply. "I do not care to know the reasons for why you rejected me. That is your business and your business alone. Regardless of that… I will… I will…"

She couldn't say the words. I will continue to love you. I still love you. I've always loved you. Those words wouldn't come. They fought in her throat before dying a premature death. She did not know what to do or what to say.

He stared at her and lowered his eyes.

"I will take you home now," he told her. He didn't say her name.

They walked through the forest in silence. Kagome said nothing more, for her words failed her. Her heart shriveled and throbbed sadly in her chest but she could not summon the words to speak to Inuyasha. The trees were silent. The wind had stopped.

When they emerged from the Enchanted Forest, Kagome could see the battle was over. She could see the fallen soldiers and the shocked townspeople watching from their windows. She could see her old home, where the windows and doors were firmly shut. After this, she would not see Inuyasha again. After this, she would have no home to return to.

Slowly, Inuyasha turned around, and his eyes were soft and unreadable. He took a step towards her and Kagome stiffened, turning her face away. His hand reached out and he touched her elbow.

"I do have reasons for rejecting you," he told her.

Kagome jerked away. "You needn't tell me."

"I know," he told her.

"It doesn't matter in the end. I am a mere nuisance to you."

"This is true," he confessed. "And you do not yet know what love is."

"Nor do you," Kagome said. "You told me that you had seen it wage wars and tear people apart. But all things can do this. Love can also heal."

Inuyasha said nothing so Kagome continued.

"I suppose you can easily assume I know nothing of love. I could be mistaking my feelings for you as I did with Hojo." She watched the horizon and refused to look at him. "I did not understand. But I know how I feel for you. More than anything else, I want you to be happy. I want you to be happy even if that happiness is not with me. And when I see you, my heart clenches because you don't seem happy. You seem so sad and lonely."

"I am a murdering, exiled, vengeful man," Inuyasha told her, staring at the horizon, too. Kagome glanced at him over her shoulder and closed her eyes. "You are pure. You cried for his death, despite everything that he's done to you. What could someone like you want with someone like me?"

"I don't think that's up to you to decide," Kagome said fiercely.

"Perhaps," he said. The wind ruffled his hair and he brushed it aside. "How do I know of love? How do you? How does anyone? What is love, anyway? There are different kinds and different forms. I suppose, in the end, it matters not."

"Maybe."

He turned toward her and she glanced at him. He took a step towards her and she stiffened.

She closed her eyes. "Please don't."

"Don't what?"

"Hurt me like this. I know you do not hate me. You've done too much for me to hate me. But I also know that you do not love me or regard me favorably. That much is clear. Do not speak to me if you simply wish to hurt me. I cannot take it."

"Kagome…" he said quietly and Kagome started. She stared at him, her eyes wide, before turning away, displaying her back and cropped black hair. "Kagome…"

"Please," she begged.

"Kagome… if there… if I am still… if you still hold something for me inside your heart… I… you should know that… they are returned."

The words were so soft and so hesitant. It was almost as if Inuyasha had not been the one to say them. Kagome turned around in surprise, staring at him. He stared at her, his eyes still indescribable. He did not look like a king. He looked like a young man. A nervous, frightened young man in love.

Kagome blushed and looked away. Her eyes misted over. Hesitantly, she smiled. She nodded. "I do."

Equally as hesitant, Inuyasha opened up his palm to her, offering her his hand. She stared at it for a moment—calloused and bloody. Worn and weathered. Like hers. She grabbed that hand and it was a match made in heaven, for this is where she belonged.

"I'll take you home," Inuyasha repeated.

"I do not have a home." He glanced at her at her words. She stared at him seriously. "My home is where you are."

He blinked in surprise before he laughed quietly. "Is that so?"

"Yes," she said stubbornly, for he looked as if he were about to start patronizing her for her words. She stared at him, her eyes deadly serious. "Wherever you go, I will be there with you."

"You would follow me, Kagome?"

"Follow? Ha, hardly," Kagome said sternly. "I am not a damsel that follows after her knight. I will be here to support you, should you need it. But if you wish for me to leave, I will do so. I am not desperate for your love."

"You've changed," he said, turning to look at her fully. He reached out his free hand, bloodied from the wound at his side, and touched the side of her cheek. "There's something different about you."

"Is that a bad thing?" Kagome asked, surprised.

"No, just… something's different than before. You've matured," he said and shrugged one shoulder. "You look… I don't know. Like a tragic beauty."

"You rejected me. I was captured and imprisoned. They tried to kill me," Kagome said. Then she looked at her feet. "And I awakened my magic."

"Did you?" he asked, but didn't sound the least bit surprised. "How peculiar."

"You gave me some of your magic," Kagome said and glanced at him. "Hojo told me that was a sign of love among wizards."

"Did he?" Inuyasha asked evasively, as he began walking, tugging her along.

"Yes. Is it true?"

"I am a wanted man, Kagome," Inuyasha continued.

"Answer my question! And what do you mean? Those who were out for your blood are… dead… now."

"I have done many crimes to get to where I am. Even if I wanted to be king, it could never be so. If you were to follow me… or… accompany me, I mean, you will be hunted down along with me. I do not wish such a life for you."

"Who are you to choose my life?" Kagome questioned, sounding far calmer than expected. "Don't you dare take away my ability to make a decision. If your feelings for me are like my own for you, then you would not deny me something as human as that."

He seemed surprised to hear her say such a thing, but, slowly, he nodded his head and turned back towards where the battle had been fought and won. He looked kingly again, no longer a young, socially awkward boy confessing his love. Kagome could see it in his face that it was still there, but was being promptly hidden underneath more pressing matters.

"My mother is put to rest," Inuyasha said suddenly as they resumed their walk away from the forest and towards the castle. "And I have avenged my father and brother's deaths."

"Yes," Kagome said, for she wasn't sure how to respond to his statement. She didn't know what he wanted to hear.

He continued as if he had not heard her, "There is nothing more keeping me here. I will leave after saying my goodbyes to my troop. They will stay here and serve the new king. If you wish to come with me, then so be it. If you choose to stay, then so be it."

"You know my answer," Kagome told his back and stepped forward so she was walking at his side. He nodded his head and out of the corner of her eye, Kagome saw the barest hint of a smile on his lips.

"Who will be king, then?"

"If I forfeit the throne," Inuyasha said, "Kouga will be the next in line to be king. And he'll make a much better king than I, anyway. It's what he's wanted. A fair king in a free kingdom. He'll make it happen, I'm sure."

They walked down the streets of her old home in silence. Somehow everything seemed foreign and alien to her. It was as if she were no longer there and was simply passing through a dream she could never visit again. The world seemed lonely and distant, but she didn't feel nearly as sad as she thought she would. Soon, they were walking before the castle and the bandits turned their attention towards the two.

"Inuyasha is back!" Rin exclaimed as she saw the two approaching. "And the princess! Princess Kagome, we're so glad you're okay!"

The group of bloody, battle-worn bandits all turned their attentions towards Inuyasha and Kagome fully, smiling and happy to see their leader emerge with the missing princess.

"We thought you'd died!" Rin continued as she rushed forward, grabbing Kagome's arms and hugging her tightly as she did so. "We couldn't find you anywhere and then Inuyasha suddenly left to fight the king! We're so happy to see you two!"

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Kagome murmured quietly, awkwardly patting the girl on the back.

"Everything's good now!" Rin exclaimed and nodded towards Sango. "Sango said the cards were being vague so we weren't sure what to expect."

"Inuyasha!" Shippou cried as he ran towards the two and hopped onto the king's shoulder.

"I'm back," Inuyasha said, unnecessarily, but in no way unappreciative. He patted the little fox on the head before stepping forward towards Kouga, who stood in front of a large group of his own troop. The rebellion members were whispering but soon fell silent as the magic carrier approached.

Kouga stood up a bit straighter and nodded his head towards Inuyasha. "Your majesty."

"I have no intention of being king. You know as well as I that it can never be," Inuyasha said as he gripped the crown in his hand tightly. He lifted it and regarded it for a long moment before tossing the thing carelessly towards Kouga. The man grabbed in surprise and stared at it for a long moment. Inuyasha nodded his head, the closest he'd ever come to a bow. "I forfeit my crown to you, the next in line."

Kouga looked speechless for half a second, the words caught in his throat. Slowly, he inhaled and stood up even straighter before silently bowing his head in greeting to his cousin and placing the crown on top of his head. The men behind Kouga bowed and the men behind Inuyasha bowed, too.

Kagome stared in shock at the world around her and as Inuyasha turned around to walk away from his cousin, his mismatched eyes locked on her and she saw the gentle incline of a hesitant smile and the soft crinkling of eyes. He was smiling at her, a small, secret smile. Kagome felt as if her heart would burst.

"Well then," Inuyasha said loudly, addressing his bandits. "That's it then. You're free to do as you please."

"We are loyal to the true king," one bandit murmured.

Inuyasha mulled over these words before nodding. "And your loyalty is not unappreciated. I am no longer the king, however. He is your true king now," he said, nodding towards Kouga. "You are welcome to come with me, if you have grown so accustomed to this life. But you are no longer bandits."

"You are welcome in this kingdom," Kouga reassured.

The bandits looked amongst themselves, trying to see the truth swimming in their eyes. They looked back at their king, the one they had followed for so many years. Inuyasha nodded his head and stepped aside, unblocking the path to Kouga's side. Slowly, as if uncertain of their decisions, the bandits began crossing over, making their way towards a free world, where they were no longer hunted and prosecuted for crimes they had no committed.

Miroku, Sango, and Rin stood behind Inuyasha now, gripping their small bundle of belongings. Though he said nothing, Kagome could see the world of appreciation in his eyes. This was his family now.

He turned towards the bandits who now stood beside the new king. "May you live long and forever fortunate."

They inclined their heads towards their forgotten king, thousands of unspoken words hanging in the air between the leader and his abandoned followers. But there was no ill will. With another nod, Inuyasha turned back towards those who remained with him.

"We best be going, then," he said, striding to where their makeshift camp remained. He grabbed a horse and led it over to Kagome, who took the reins gratefully.

"Where will you go?" Kouga asked, sounding far more kingly now that he had a crown on his head.

Inuyasha thought this over for a long moment before shooting a small grin towards Kagome. "The sea, I think. There are plenty of new worlds to behold beyond the waters, I'm sure. Best we get out of your hair, for it'd be a shame if we dirtied your new reign before it even starts."

"Please travel safely, and should I need you…"

"…Please contact me," Inuyasha agreed with a small smile. "Take care."

With that, he mounted his own horse and looked over his shoulder to make sure Miroku, Sango, and Rin were properly situated. Kagome sat on her horse, right at his side. She didn't say anything, but there was understanding in their gazes as they looked at one another. She nodded her head and smiled and something deflated from his shoulders.

The sun was almost completely gone now, and the stars were beginning to tease the distant horizon.

"We will travel faster at night," Inuyasha told his group. They nodded their heads. "Farewell!"

And with that, the group of horses took off without another word. No provisions, no long goodbyes, no second thoughts. They just ran off into the dying sunlight, chasing after dreams that may or may not be there. The new king and his fellowship watched them disappear until they were mere speaks in the darkness.

"May you live long and be forever fortunate," Kouga murmured before turning around and facing his people. "Today was a terrible battle. Rest well tonight, comrades. For tomorrow, a new era begins."

From down the path, the travelers could hear the cheering and the celebrating and it warmed their hearts.

Sango's brown horse rode up beside Kagome. The girl turned to greet her. "It is good that you are well, Princess."

"Thank you," Kagome said, wishing the title would just be forgotten.

"I have discussed with the cards," she continued and smiled. "I drew the queen of cups and the wheel of fortune."

"When was this?"

"Recently. The time is immaterial. Go forward knowing that luck and love is on your side," Sango said before falling backwards beside Miroku and Rin. Kagome glanced over her shoulder and nodded her head, though she couldn't be certain if Sango saw her in the darkness.

She turned her attention back towards Inuyasha, who galloped at her side. Her heart warmed and she felt that forgotten stone around her neck glow warmly and perfectly against her skin. Her heart swelled for the umpteenth time that day and she knew that while this was quite possibly the most unconventional happily ever after ever known, it was her happily ever after.

Inuyasha must have felt her eyes because he turned towards her. "You okay?"

"Perfect," Kagome said. "I'm perfect."

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at those words but turned his attention back towards the world in front of his eyes, a smile quirking his lips upwards.

They rode off towards their happily ever after, their eyes firmly opened towards whatever may come.


End file.
